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Dozie:
The new old Soul With an African Twist
By Linda A. Annan
Published: May 15, 2007
The world is yet to get a taste of the
new soothing, sensual sound of Nigerian Soul /R&B singer, Dozie (pronounced Doh-zee-ay); his debut album Redemption , a title subject to change with the set of a record deal, is ready to hit stores late this summer.
He has been compared to Sade, Maxwell and even Seal. His melodious voice and distinctive style hold an appealing groove—one that leaves no doubt that this up- and-coming artist is ready to break through the industry with something missing for a while.
Dozie's forthcoming project shows tremendous potential in today's Hip-hop-driven market. After noticing just a few successful African artists both in the U.S. and U.K., he wanted to make a move to help balance this shortage. “Yeah you've got Sade, you've got Seal and a couple of other people but not a whole lot and I wanted to kind of help show that we're capable of operating at this level. I'm trying to have my own style, have my own music…I just wanted to put Africa/Nigeria on the map a little bit and try to put some good music out,” he says of his inspiration for the album. “[I wanted to] try to create a great, meaningful, musical type of music that you don't have to be 15 or 16 years old to go out to enjoy,” he adds.
As a new comer in the music scene being compared to legends like Seal and Sade, Dozie thinks: “It's an honor. These are fantastic artists, they've done very well, great music, they've sold millions of records and for me to be put in that category is great! Hopefully I can have the same level of success one day that they've had.”
“But in terms of the quality of music, I'm very touched that people kind of see me in that way,” he adds.
Dozie's album title Redemption denotes his long journey as a foreigner in the U.S. trying to get a break in the music business. “But I thought it as also kind of a way of expressing being an African and kind of going through all the struggle we go through as a continent and say hey, we're able to participate at this level of human endeavor and succeed, so we're kind of being redeemed in a way by putting out that material,” he elaborates.
This San Francisco-based singer launched his music career about three years ago when shopping for a record deal and getting his music out to people became of paramount importance in his life. After a few unsuccessful attempts to partner with industry-savvy producers, Dozie finally gets to work with high-powered music
executives like Joel Jaffe and Don Mizell, producer of Ray Charles' last Grammy Award winning album.
Dozie's track record with music dates back to when he was a young boy, but he began singing seriously while in secondary school in Nigeria. In the United States he joined a gospel choir and other spiritual musical groups in college, something he says encouraged him to continue singing and playing instruments. “Somebody came and said, ‘you can really sing man, you can actually play the instrument, you might make a career out of it,' and for some reason that statement just stuck,” he says. After that compliment Dozie began to explore and cultivate his talents by learning to play the piano –he began to wake up as early as 3 a.m. to play in the basement of a local church. “I would do it everyday for hours and hours and then one thing led to another and before you know, I came into the music business,” he says of his career awakening.
Today he can confidently say that he is not an amateur to the keys of a piano or the strings of a guitar. Dozie played percussion instruments in secondary school while a member of a traditional Igbo dance group and even takes a stab at the base and drums in the studio from time to time. “But [piano and guitar] are the only things I would actually play on stage,” he laughs.
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