Why I Stopped Singing Gospel Music – Simi

Award-winning Nigerian singer, Simisola Kosoko, popularly known as Simi, has opened up on the reason she quit gospel music.

Simi disclosed that she was paid as low as ₦5,000-10,000 as performance fee while she was a gospel musician.

She said the highest she was ever paid then was N70,000.

The mother of one opened up on her past travails during an interview segment of MTV Base Africa’s programme, Official Naija Top 10.

She said, “I actually used to go to a lot of churches to perform. They will pay me like N5k, N10k. Do you know the highest amount of money I actually collected when I was doing gospel [music]? N70,000. And I felt like I had arrived. I still paid a 10 per cent tithe from the money.”

The Duduke crooner said she had to stop singing at some point because she wasn’t making enough money from gospel music to pay for studio sections and promotions.

Simi said her lack of finances drove her to sign with a record label, which she regretted joining.

The mother of one said she later switched to secular music because of the challenges she encountered in the gospel music industry.