Frank Edwards- The Unique Psalmist

Among all the gospel musicians in Nigeria, one stands out with a unique voice and flow. He sings so intricately with such a melodious tune and best of all is that his songs are always so inspiring. I wanted the post to be titled “Why I Love Frank Edwards” but I realized that it would have sounded too personal. A lot of people do enjoy his songs actually. Personally, I love him because back then I used to think his songs were personally written for me alone. His songs are inspiring and have a calming effect on the mind. If you have listened to Beautiful, Peace and Oghene do, you would understand what I am blogging about. 

Now let us look at him in focus: His birth name is Frank Ugochukwu Edwards and he was born in Enugu state of Nigeria. He is a native of Enugu state. He was born July 22, 1990. Franklin exhibited interest in music from the time he was 7 years. His father taught him how to play the piano.

While growing up, his ambition was to be a pilot. He says he never believed he was going to be a singer. But as a teenager, he became born again and was devoted to church till he became aware of what God wanted him to be.

He is the founder of a music label called Rocktown Records. When he was asked in an interview how he became a known voice in Christ Embassy. This is what he said:

"It is as a result of grace;, before my first album was out, I had never stood in front of two people to sing not to talk of the whole church, I had never held the microphone in the church to lead the choir in the choir rehearsal. I never got that opportunity, but I was working on my songs in secret. I was recording these songs for any album, I was only trying out some things I suggested to people and they rejected. My intention was not to make an album, but you know how it is, people hear your song and if it is nice, they want to hear another one, before I knew it the songs that I recorded got to pastor Chris without me being aware. 

We were having a global service one night December 31^st, I was there as a keyboardist sitting down then Pastor Chris came out preaching, he then walked towards me and whispered to me that he wanted me to sing one of my songs. My heart just flew because I had never held a microphone in the church before and I was being asked to sing to the whole world. I started sweating straightaway, I nodded my head to say yes, I think the head moved on its own, he gave me the microphone, that was the first time anybody will be giving me a microphone to sing in front of a crowd. I held the microphone and started singing, I didn’t know what took over me, I watched the video after the program, people lifted their hands up, people were on the floor, even the pastor was singing it word for word which means he has been listening to it, from that night, my Facebook page was jammed and the story has not been the same, so that was actually my defining moment."

CAREER AND LIFE

His debut album The Definition was released in 2008. It had 14 tracks and was distributed by Honesty Music. Angels on the Runway was his second album, it was released in 2010 and Unlimited came out in 2011.Today he has numerous hit songs that continue to enjoy popularity in churches, homes and countries. Some of his popular songs includes: You too dey bless me o, Omema o, Mma Mma, Welcome to Zion, Oyege,  Lift my voice, Blow my mind, Okaka  and much more. He is a role model and inspiration to the youths. Besides being an artist with many songs in all musical genre, He is also a genius producer.. As a result his world class Record Label, christened "ROCKTOWN which he owns, has a generation of up coming talent with names like GIL, Divyn, David and many others. His songs come in a variety of sometimes rock, fused with a little pop and fuji.
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He has been credited with various nominations including The NEA Awards 2009, and also The Nigerian Gospel Awards 2012, where he merited six different nominations. The Oyege crooner was also the winner of the Nigerian Gospel Awards (Rock Artist Of The Year) 2010,. He bagged the Loveworld Awards $10,000 worth Hit Song Of The Year 2012, with one of his hit songs "Superstar No.1". He has also been performing within and outside Nigeria ever since the work was put out. The singer has done a collabo with gospel music legend Don Moen recently, they produced songs like Grace, Halleluyah and Ka Anyi Bulie (Let Us Lift Him)

The former Enugu Street boy has been described as Nigeria's hottest Gospel Rock artiste of the moment.

His last album before the collaboration with Don Moen, “Frankincense,” caught everyone by surprise when it topped Beyonce and Adele's albums within few hours of release on Itunes album chart.

Lesson

Keep improving yourself wherever you are. God is preparing a place for you that only your preparedness will help you get there. No matter your talent, be it singing, writing, sewing, drawing or designing websites; do it with style and excellence and be patient for the time of your upliftment.