Lara George grew up and schooled in Yaba, Lagos. The singer has fond memories of childhood, and recalls “sharing a huge bowl of pounded yam on a Saturday afternoon with my siblings. It was a family tradition and was so much fun.I also remember Sunday morning breakfast on my father’s lap with my tiny fork and knife and my own little tea set. That memory brings goose bumps all the time.”She says of her mother: “She taught me to think of the long-term and never to be frivolous. This is a big part of the reason why I do inspirational music. To me, music must always have meaning and a positive direction in which it will move people’s lives."My aim is to give hope, life and encouragement through my music, and help people see life from a more positive point of view.”George grew up listening to “people like Victor Uwaifo—for some reason, I was really fascinated by his songs; CAC Good Women’s Choir, Abba and Ebenezer Obey—no thanks to my mom!.Later on, I came to love the sounds of Bebe and Cece Winans, Amy Grant and more recently, Yolanda Adams.” She started singing with her sisters at a very young age. “We had a medley we did often and it was about thirty minutes of pure, non-stop music. Every time we sang, it felt like we had angels in the room.”Choosing MusicLara George has always made her sonorous voice heard. In Queens College, she took some lead parts as a member of the school choir; at university, she joined Rocksolid, the musical wing of House on the Rock, a church.That was where she met other members of KUSH:Emem Ema, TY Bello and Dapo. Despite her love for music, she studied Architecture at the University of Lagos; “the closest compromise between the arts which I love, and the professional course which my parents wanted me to do."I had hoped that architecture would give me the much needed creative outlet I craved for, but was sadly disappointed by the six years I spent studying the course as little or no guidance was given to our talents, and I was uncertain by the end of my first year.”She was part of the very first West African Idols. She did not win, but that was not the end of the story.The Days of KUSHKUSH was not only the first musical group from Nigeria to get signed on an international record label, they had a string of hits, including ‘Let’s Live Together,’ which was almost like a national anthem.Lara George remembers their “very first recording at Abbey Road Studios London (same studio where The Beatles recorded), recording at Record Plant Studios Los Angeles (and Brandy was in the studio next door on that day!), limousine rides from hotel room to shopping mall at Minneapolis, the laughter, the tears, all the fun times on stage. Those memories are irreplaceable.”The members of KUSH moved on to other things eventually. “Our individual visions changed,” George says now, but stresses that they remain good friends.From KUSH she learnt “never to be afraid to dream... I got the opportunity to work with people who in my opinion are truly three of Nigeria’s greatest musical talents, not just in terms of the music, but also because they are such great team players.It was a fantastic eye-opener; we got the unique chance to work with some of the best people in the international music industry, so it was an introduction to true professionalism at its finest.”The end of KUSH led to the birth of George’s solo music career, in November, 2007. She was unsure at first, but with two successful albums under her belt, she admits to being “extremely excited; I’m feeling very ready to do even better than I’ve done before.”So excited in fact, that she’s gone back to school. “I started a course last year on music theory with the MUSON centre,” she says. “I’m also currently taking piano lessons.It’s been a very enlightening experience so far. I can’t believe how little I knew about the music I love so much and am definitely looking forward to excelling in every area of the course.”On the Music IndustryThe singer sees the Nigerian music industry as “fast-growing, exciting, unstructured and yet with huge potential for development in the right direction.” She is concerned about challenges faced by artists, including “the perception of women in music as being somewhat unserious.As an inspirational artist, it’s even more challenging because there’s a faulty mindset that people have that says that you should not, as a gospel musician, put a fee to your performance, especially in the church.Nigerians find it easy to invite foreign artistes and pay their fees, but get offended when a Nigerian gospel artist sends in fee requirements. There’s also perception by the larger society that freebie ‘charity’ concerts should be directed always towards the inspirational artiste.Have we forgotten that gospel artistes also pay exorbitant producer fees for music and director fees for videos?” She would like to see an attitude change towards wholesome inspirational music.Tackling piracyAnother challenge is “an utter lack of respect for intellectual property of the musician even in this day and age.” George has responded to this by starting her own music distribution network.SoForte Entertainment Distribution is an automated entertainment distribution company with the aim of reducing piracy to the barest minimum by creating distribution channels throughout Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world.She is the vice-president of Soforte, and says, “We have partnered with TNT logistics (the third largest courier company in the world), as well as Maevva Solutions in order to provide the best possible services.When a product is released on a certain date in Lagos, it is made available in all the major states before that day. Automation of our services allows our licensed artists to obtain real-time online accounts of their sales without hassle.”The FutureGeorge recently won the Best Female Vocalist of The Year award at the Nigeria Music Award (NMA), but she is not resting on her oars. She looks forward to the day her music will take her beyond the shores of this country to win a Grammy.According to her, true success is when an artist’s impact is felt positively. “It always makes me happy when anyone at all comes to me to say how much my music has inspired them,” she says.
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