Charity Ekeke

She has been likened to Sade, Sharon Jones, Peter Gabriel, and the late, great Whitney Houston but Charity Ekeke has her own way of doing things. She’s a very talented artist and knows exactly how she wants to express that talent.

In October of this year, 2016, she released an 11 track work of art centered around women and what our lives could be like, things we face in life and how we handle them or how they handle us. There is one song “If The Roles Were Reversed” that hits home for so many of us, not just women but men as well. The day to day lives of women, in all walks of life, from working moms to life on the streets, inspired her to write about the feelings associated with the events. That is how “She” was born.

You can enjoy the video for “If The Roles Were Reversed” here.


Her desire to give a voice to young mothers who revert to prostitution and the living on the streets inspired “Don’t Call Them” and her daughters concerns over birth control resulted in the writing of “These Times”….With a deep focus on life in other countries she set out to bring attention to the crisis in Syria with the migration issues and this gave life to her penning “Bloodline.” With a calling to bring abuse and neglect to the forefront around the world she hit home with “She Bears” expressing how the multiple forms of abuse of women around the world is experienced and sometimes hidden.
Her desire to give a voice to young mothers who revert to prostitution and the living on the streets inspired “Don’t Call Them” and her daughters concerns over birth control resulted in the writing of “These Times”….With a deep focus on life in other countries she set out to bring attention to the crisis in Syria with the migration issues and this gave life to her penning “Bloodline.” With a calling to bring abuse and neglect to the forefront around the world she hit home with “She Bears” expressing how the multiple forms of abuse of women around the world is experienced and sometimes hidden.
courtesy of Independent Music Promotions
courtesy of Independent Music Promotions

As a young girl growing up in Nigeria she loved to listen to music on the old turn table. She was inspired by legendary artists such as The Beatles, Jimmy Reeves, Nat King Cole, Tom Jones, and The Everly Brothers. With such a diverse collection of artists to inspire her it is only natural that she would be able to pull from so many areas of life as each one of these artists covered every thing from love to broken hearts to making dreams come true.

The songs are great. I would bring her vocals just a little more to the forefront. The music is awesome but it’s a little consuming of her raw and rich voice. Otherwise I think she has a winner here.
courtesy of Independent Music Promotions
courtesy of Independent Music Promotions

In the early stages of her desire to produce demo’s and promote her music she, herself faced the arduous tasks of raising a family, working, and also trying to pursue a career in the music industry. Home life and being a mom had to come first but she continued to write some of the most amazing songs ever. Three of the songs you will hear on the new collection “She” were written over 20 years ago but they are timeless in that they are perfect today as they were then.

This multi-genre collection has something that will hit home for most everyone. And even though Charity knows that making it in the music industry is always a challenge, and especially for women, she’s not deterred by that nor will she stop moving forward. She believes that blessings abound and that through diligence and hard work and the belief in God and family that we can make our dreams come true.

This album has hit the airwaves at just the right time when women of all ages need something new to motivate them to move forward to a better life. Stop settling for second best.

This album was produced by Michael Hyde and Barry Lee co-produced on three tracks. For more information on Charity and where you can purchase her music or find out where she’s performing please visit her website: www.charityekeke.com - Nashville Music Guide

If I’ve learned anything from the women in my life, it’s that they are made of steel and to misunderstand them is to miss the point of this life. Listening to Charity Ekeke’s She reminded me of that. The album is brimming with wit, wisdom, and truth. Ekeke lets in the air and the sunshine.

Also, Ekeke’s timing for She appears to be right on time as a few of the songs she wrote decades ago still apply to what’s happening today. As far as women have come, they are still repressed, controlled, overshadowed, discounted, and in many cases regarded as chattel. It’s difficult not to get discouraged, right? Well, Ekeke has a soulful retort to all of that.

She’s is a one-woman activist and soldier wrapped in the armor of a performer and she’s using her voice to fight, support, and rally and not just for women, but for society as a whole. Ekeke is also about having a good time while being all of that. We need that kind of hero. - Stephanie Towne

Nigera-raised, US-residing singer-songwriter Charity Ekeke has had a love for music, and the desire to create it, ever since she was a young child. Ekeke’s resonant, thought-provoking, and multi-genre debut album, She, which she delivered in early October, is a true labor of, and gift of, love. It came out of years of hard work where Ekeke tried to balance her family life with artistic creation.

Ekeke’s incisive lyrics cover international and societal, as well as personal, struggles, from the Syrian migration crisis (Bloodline) to the unfair treatment of women around the globe (She Bears) – and a look at abuse from a different perspective on the potent single If the Roles Were Reversed.

On this song, and the accompanying eye-opening video, Ekeke questions what it would be like if male/female cultural roles were reversed; if the man was in the woman’s shoes, so to speak. She intones in a low, drawn out voice that, “Like a mother / I deserve respect.”, but that’s not what a majority of women around the world get. A deep, but laid-back reggae beat and sustained guitar burn follow her pointed words.

The powerful video focuses separately on a man and a woman getting ready to go out and then walking down the street. At first we see the woman being ogled by a group of men, but then the scenario is switched up and we see the man facing the same behavior as the group of men eyeball, catcall, follow, and eventually physically assault the man.

So, yes – What if the roles were reversed? Would there be public outrage? Would there be severe consequences for the attackers? Would a man in this situation be treated differently than a woman, who is usually shamed and doesn’t receive justice for the abuse she suffered? All trenchant questions that Ekeke raises on the hard-hitting If the Roles Were Reversed. - Jen Dan