By Prudence Minayo
Willy Paul or Pozze, real name Wilson Shikwekwe Abubakar Radido, is an award winning Kenyan gospel turned secular artist. He gained popularity after releasing the hit single Sitolia, a collaboration with gospel sensation Gloria Muliro. The evergreen artist became a household name in East Africa with back to back hits. He has worked with such big names like Size 8, Nandy from Tanzania, Cecil and Alaine from Jamaica and Yemi Alade from Nigeria.
Age and Background
He was born on September 1, 1993 in the slums of Mathare.
Background
The artist’s father was a carpenter while his mother was a hairdresser. Willy Paul is the last born in a family of three children. His parents struggled to make ends meet and misfortune hit the family when in 2010 his father passed away. He attended Brainhouse High School in Mathare but due to financial difficulties, he dropped out and began doing odd jobs. He later registered for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Exams in 2013. The controversial artist has expressed his desire to study abroad.
Career
Sitolia propelled the singer to fame but not fortune. The emotionally charged song was about the struggles he had undergone and because God knew his path he had ceased crying. The song received massive airplay amidst controversy that he wasn’t earning much from it since all the rights belonged to Gloria Muliro.
In December 2013, he launched his first album titled You Never Know at the Kenyatta International Conference Center. The launch was graced by big personalities in the industry including the late Bishop Ben Bahati, Betty Bayo, Men of God, Daddy Owen, DK Kwenye Beat, Size 8, Shiru wa GP and DJ Mo. The album featured hit songs, such as, Kitanzi, Mapenzi and Lala Salama.
People embraced the artist wholeheartedly and he became a major sensation both in the country and internationally. In 2014, he got the opportunity to tour the United States where he performed in 12 different States. The tour began on 10th March in Sacramento, California and ended on 27th April in Las Vegas Nevada. He then released the song Tam Tam.
His songs started to take a turn to the more secular world, especially after releasing Bora Uhai featuring Khaligraph Jones and I Do featuring Alaine.
By the end of 2015, the then gospel artiste had bagged numerous awards and had released other hits, such as vigelegele, Mamangu and Hukuniacha.
Willy Paul also the chief executive officer and founder of Saldido international entertainment.
Secular Music
In 2018, he quit the gospel industry and began releasing secular music. Since then he has released major hits featuring a number of artists including Kaligraph Jones, Rayvanny, Ommy Dimpoz, Ali Kiba and Miss P.
Marriage
The artist has often been linked to a number of women including Pendo. He, however, only confessed to having dated Abigail. At one point he almost made Kenyans believe he was marrying Alaine after videos of them in wedding outfits circulated online. However, it was later determined to be a scene for the song I do.
He then dated video vixen Michelle Dyer who would later say he was abusive and insecure leading to their breakup.
A few days ago he released a diss track called Mnikome/Gademit. In the song, he calls out artists and tells them to stop speaking trash about him. He also insinuates he slept with Diana Marua and regretted it. He also mocked Eric Omondi for not being mature enough to keep his ex-girlfriend Miss Chanty and says 75% of his Instagram posts are nonsense.
Awards
- 2013 Groove Awards for best male artist of the year.
- 2012 Kisima Awards nomination for best male artist of the year.
- 2014 Talanta awards for best performer and Mwafaka awards for collabo of the year for the song Kitanzi featuring Gloria Muliro.
- 2015 The song Tam Tam featuring Size 8 won 2 Mdundo Awards for most downloaded gospel song and most downloaded male single. It also won him song of the year, collabo of the year, male artist of the year and video of the year.
- The song Jigi Jigi topped charts in Kenya including Mdundo Weekly Top 100, Local Top 20 Hits on Music Charts KE and the Top 40 singles chart.
- 2016 AFRIMMA awards won Best gospel act in Africa.
- 2017 Pulse Music Awards won both male video of the year and most viewed video for the song Jigi Jigi. He also won Mdundo Awards for most downloaded single and most downloaded gospel artist.
Allegations of forcing himself on women
Willy Paul has often courted controversy with abandon.
In 2015, Bahati accused his friend turned nemesis of plagiarizing his song prompting a back and forth that played on social media platforms. They later settled their differences in an award ceremony where both were prayed for.
Willy Paul has been accused of being very arrogant by a Kenyan journalist.
His ex-lover Michelle Dyer accused the artist of being controlling and abusive. According to the vixen, he was very insecure and did not understand the importance of her job. She accused him of being physically violent.
This year, he was accused by Miss P of sexual harassment. According to the artist, Willy Paul began making advances towards her at the beginning of their acquaintance and even drove her to his home where they proceeded to have unprotected sex.
“He forced me to have sex with him, not once not twice,” she told Presenter Ali.
She then revealed that they started dating but he was too controlling and condescending. Willy Paul as usual denied these allegations.
Recently, Diana Bahati accused him of sexually assaulting her. In a video where Diana is seen crying, she narrated how the artist tried to rape her and is now clout chasing and lying with her name. She added that she had filed a case at a local court. Willy Paul has vehemently denied these allegations, saying they are orchestrated in a bid to win public sympathy.
He said he was shocked by the defamatory allegations which have injured his reputation as a parent, father and a public figure. The award winning musician said how D’s crocodile tears have served their purpose and bought the sympathy of the people. He finished by saying he would never sexually assault a woman.
