Jun 17, 2021
This week on the podcast show we had a chat with Swiss-born Singer-Songwriter Nubya…..
Born in Switzerland with Nigerian heritage, to opening up for Whitney Houston in front of 12,000 people!
This week on The Entertainment Engine podcast we welcome our next guest to the show singer-songwriter Nubya from Switzerland for a chat!
It was a really refreshing chat, with lots of energy and enthusiasm, especially with what has gone on in the world this past year, good ENERGY is a really positive thing!
“Now and today is the best time of my life,” says Nubya and she doesn’t mean it simply purposefully, but with full conviction.
The singer has reached a point in her life where she pauses, looks back, and looks ahead. A mature personality, a person who is responsible for herself and who also transfers this responsibility to others.
A woman, feminine and strong, sexy and self-confident, melancholy and optimistic.
Nubya has experienced ups and downs in her career and life — like everyone else.
“But I believe that there is a good reason why we also have to walk through the valleys of life. When we find ourselves in such a valley, we ask why, but when we stand up again and look back, we recognize the meaning. ”
So every moment, every stage of life, whether good or bad, ultimately has a positive effect because it makes people what they are.
“There is still so much waiting for me out there in life, I just have to get involved”.
“Anyone who hesitates and only thinks in small ways will not achieve what they really want. You should never limit your dreams and thoughts, ”says Nubya.
To listen more to our chat with Nubya, please click on the link below;
She has not restricted herself musically or lyrically on her new CD “Today”, which is certainly the singer’s most personal.
Not only because she wrote almost all of the lyrics herself, but because she coordinated and directed the entire production for over a year. The songs tell a lot about Nubya, how she thinks, what moves her, how she feels:
“I want to express what I feel with my lyrics.” So she sings about love, but also about the turbulence in life, she reminds us of the power of saying no and reflects the feelings of living as a hybrid between two worlds.
They are very personal songs that a mature Nubya sings.
A look back at Nubya’s past makes this maturation process a reality. She was born in Basel in 1974 as the daughter of a Swiss mum and a Nigerian father.
She only spends two short years of her life in Nigeria, she then comes back to Switzerland with her mother. She graduated from high school in Basel and then travels to New York for a year. The impressions she collects in this melting pot shape her to this day:
“I have never experienced so much in a single year and met such great people. It was a whole new world for me”.
She attended a jazz school and sings in a gospel choir. As a child, she took piano lessons for nine years, but here in New York, she lives the music.
The musicians and singers with whom she is hanging out here also give the beautiful, slim, dark-skinned woman a name: Nubya. Back in Basel, she studies economics and also sings in bands, but engagements are increasing.
“At some point, I had to decide: Do I want to sing or study?” Nubya decided to sing.
Her breakthrough came with a breakdown: in 1999 she was to appear in the opening act for Whitney Houston in the Zurich Hallenstadion.
The technology went on strike, the young singer’s half-playback performance threatens to fail. Nubya sings a capella, the audience is enthusiastic and even Whitney Houston pays her respect.
Now the Basel woman is suddenly in the spotlight. Her first album is released and she is hosting a lifestyle program on television. Do I want to sing or study now? ”Nubya of course had decided to sing.
That was the moment when people started recognizing me on the street from one day to another.
Nubya then started working on her third album which was a German record. When she had around 5 songs, she started looking for a record deal in Germany and then got signed by the major label — Sony BMG Germany.
At that time Nubya was living in Germany and touring the country with her own band and with other projects, such as Night of the Proms (that year she was in the proms and toured with Roger Daltrey, Manfred Mann & Chris Thompson, John Miles, the Safri Duo).
She then moved to Zurich and released a cover album. There are people who say that when an artist isn’t happy in the life they do a cover album.
She then decided to do her next album by herself, under her own label with resources of her own, and raised the finances to bring her vision to life and it was the best decision that Nubya made and never looked backed! It came out as Nubya’s most personal album.
Nubya’s new song “Rebel” was released on March 26th, 2021. The song is the first single off her new album, which will be released in January 2022, and will be produced by Alan Glass and Yannic Fonderie.
A real interesting journey of creativity and experience, along the way for Nubya. We are certainly looking forward to the next album from this Swiss-born singer-songwriter and wish her well on her creative journey!
By Peter Moore
