The Rise and Fall
I was the original founder of The Loveable Rogues, and we advanced to the finals of Britain's Got Talent in 2012. We were signed by Sony and released "What a Night" which peaked in the top 10 of UK singles charts. I was performing headline tours, supporting Olly Murs, and finding myself in the spotlight.
"When you're famous, you just get loads of free stuff," I laugh now. Yet despite all this, I didn't feel satisfied.
As the hype of the band faded, so did my spirit. I felt like I'd failed, and I was only in my early 20s! The negative opinions of others became my truth.
Lost in the Darkness
I was lost. I used alcohol to cope. These habits isolated me from genuine healing—but God had bigger plans.
I hated everything about religion. I thought it was all just rules and judgement. But then my bandmate and friend Te Qhairo told me something that stuck: "You know God's not just some man in the sky?"
That comment sparked deeper curiosity. Te explained that God lies within the mystery of the world, in all that we don't understand. This set fireworks off in my spirit as I continued learning more.
The Journey to Faith
I wanted to know who God was. And it was on that journey that I fell in love with songwriting again. In my own way and in my voice, I came to know God through reading the Bible. The words flowed onto the page, and my music began to take flight again.
Losing my identity and feeling lost…it just went away! It sounds really cliché, but it's true. I went from darkness to light.
Jesus Music with a Cockney Accent
Now I make "Jesus music with a cockney accent." My latest release, Reno, came from a word I wrote without knowing what it meant. I later discovered that the Latin meaning translates to 'born again' or 'reborn'—a fitting reflection of my own story.
Words like "I didn't wanna live like I did before" paired with my story of being saved give Reno a tangible feeling of hope.
Everything I went through—the fame, the failure, the darkness—it was all part of God calling me home.
