By Prudence Minayo
Bernard Michael Paul Mnyang’anga, famously known as Ben Pol, is an award winning Tanzanian singer and song writer. The singer has had a number of hits to his name including Sophia, Jikubali, Number one Fan, Samboira, Dodoma boy, and Pete among others. He has also has collaborated with renowned musicians from across Africa including Chidima, Nameless, King Kaka, John Makini, Amos and Josh & Baraka Da Prince.
Early Life
He was born on 8th September 1989 in Dar es Salaam. He the second born in a family of four children and the family lived in Vigugunti slums.
He attended Anzania Secondary School where he would sing together with his friends. He finished high school in 2009.
Music Career
The artiste’s mother was a home based singer, something that must have rubbed off on her son. In 2010, soon after completing high school, he released his first album titled Maboma.
In 2015, his song titled Sophia was a major hit and topped charts in Tanzania propelling to an A-list musician in Tanzania. The same year, he participated in Coke Studio Africa season 3 alongside other top African artists, such as, Sauti Sol, Flavor and Yemi Alade.
Awards and Nominations
The singer has been nominated for and or won the following awards:
2011: Won Best R&B song for Nikikupata at the Tanzania Music Awards
2012: Won Best R&B song for Number One Fan. He was also nominated for Best Bongo Flava Act.(Tanzania Music Awards)
2013: he was nominated for Best Male Artist of the Year and Song of the Year and won Best Songwriter. (Tanzania Music Awards)
Won Best Male Vocalist of the Year at the Under 30 Youths Awards.
2014: Nominated for Best R&B song and best songwriter at the Tanzania Music Awards.
Nominated for Best African Make Singer at the Africa Music Magazine Awards
2015: Nominated for Best Male Singer at the Tanzania Music Awards.
Nominated for Best R&B and Soul and Most Promising Artist in Africa at the All Africa Music Awards.
2016: Nominated for Best Male Artist of the Year and Song of the Year at EATV Awards
Relationship
Also Read: Anerlisa Muigai Biography, Age, Education, Family, Career and Love Life and Marriage
He fathered a child with Latifah Mohammed and although they separated the two co-parent.
The Tanzanian artist began dating Anerlisa Muigai in 2019 and the two seemed to enjoy each other’s company a lot. However, Ben Pol’s ex-girlfriend and Tanzanian comedian Annastazia Exavery, popularly known as Ebitoke, said Ben was just after money.
“I am not even hurt because I see Ben Pol as Ben 10. I laugh at him because he is enjoying the good life, he is taken to Dubai on holiday because he does not have money. You know he is just around her to carry her purse,” she said in a candid interview with EATV in 2019.
Barely a month after the tragic death of Tecra Muigai, her sister Anerlisa Muigai and Ben Pol tied the knot in a low-key ceremony. The ceremony was reported to have taken place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania over the weekend around the same time Tecra would have celebrated her 30th birthday. The two shared a few photos giving fans snippets of the wedding which was attended by close friends and family.
Later, the couple revealed that they did their wedding in the leafy suburb of Mbezi, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. At the time, Anerlisa refuted the rumors that they had previously broken up.
Divorce
Barely a year into their marriage, the couple seemed to have decided to go their separate ways. In April 2021, the singer filed for a divorce at a Mwanzo court in Dar es Salaam. This came days after Anerlisa dropped Ben’s official name Mnyang’anga. Anerlisa also took off all of Ben’s pictures from her Instagram account and had unfollowed him as well.
In a recent interview with Simulizi na Sauti, he revealed that the divorce was still ongoing and that the two no longer felt anything for each other. He said that last year they had broken up for more than a month and she went back to Nairobi where she sent a ton of legal papers to him, to the extent that he became scared.
The ‘Moyo Mashine’ hitmaker reports on social media indicating the relationship was on its deathbed were true:
“When reports emerged on social media last year that we had split, things were bad, we were not on speaking terms. It is true, we had split for about a month and a half. Things were bad to an extent Anerlisa sent me documents from her lawyers asking for a separation,” he said.
They then reconciled in September and broke up again in February then got back together then broke up. In the interview, he also said that Anerlisa sent him a letter barring him from talking about their union in public.
She found the NDA ridiculous and was “driven by a lot of insecurities and fear. People do so much for the sake of protecting their image. I think she felt I knew so much and maybe one day I would blast. That’s just not me….”
“I found the letter from her lawyers baseless because it was actually gagging me not to speak about my marriage. I mean if you are married you have the right to speak about your marriage if you want to, how then do you gag someone from not speaking about their lives if they wish to do so,” added the artist.
He went on to say that he had ignored many warning signals that would have stopped from marrying the Kerochee heiress:
“What I regret most is the many signals that kept popping up but I kept ignoring them for a very long time. If I had not, the marriage wouldn’t have happened. I believe we are all empowered to foresee our future going by our gut feelings or instincts.
