•Kcee
Singer Kcee has opened up about his journey from being a professional footballer to becoming a successful musician.
Born Kingsley Chinweike Okonkwo, Kcee played for Nigerian league sides Julius Berger FC and Puma FC in the 90s, even traveling to South Africa with his team.
In an interview with Taymesan, Kcee said he was part of a generation that was supposed to take over from legendary players like Jay Jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu.
However, Kcee said his football career was cut short due to lack of sponsorship.
According to him, he had been pursuing music alongside football and eventually won the Star Quest talent hunt in 2002 with his partner Precious John, aka Presh, as the duo KC Presh.
Kcee said: “The first time I travelled out of this country was football. I was playing for Julius Berger. I played for Puma. The first time I went to South Africa was soccer. That was before music.
“I was a very young boy. This was in the middle 90s. I was a teenager then. Jay Jay [Okocha] and Kanu were a set before me. After them, we would have been like the people to take over Super Eagles.”
He added: “When I found out that it was difficult to take my football career to the next level, I picked up my next love, music. I was running both of them side by side. In the course of that, I won Star Quest talent hunt and I started making money. So, I had to drop one for one. That was why I quit football.”
The prize money from the competition helped him focus on music full-time.
Kcee’s music career spans over two decades, with hits like “Limpopo” and “Ojapiano”.
