Jamaican singer, Chevelle Franklyn, last Sunday won the hearts of many fans who thronged the National Theatre to attend the much talked about ‘Highland Prayz’ concert hosted by Ghana’s gospel legend, Minister Danny Nettey. The strictly gospel reggae concert will remain a memorable one in the minds of all patrons who were at the National Theatre as it lived up to the hype it had received some weeks ago.
The very radical and passionate Chevelle Franklyn settled in her elements the moment she was introduced to the stage with the ministration of her hit song, ‘Magnify His Name’ (oou nanana) from her ‘His Way’ album. Mid-way through the intro of the smashing hit , Chevelle, who donned a beautiful black dress with a matching black cute sandals all complimenting her tidied locks, untied her sandals to hype the audience before delivering fully the hit song. It worked really well for an artiste who was performing before a Ghanaian crowd for the first time as patrons up on their feet wanting more.
Chevelle went on to sing her ragga-flavoured ‘We Conquer’ powerfully before calling budding Ghanaian contemporary gospel singer, Denzel Agyemang-Prempeh, to duet the reggae edition of solemn worship song, ‘How Great is Our God’ which took patrons to another realm. Attempting to singer another hit song, Chevelle wouldn’t but rather choose to share her life changing testimony with the audience. She narrated how she made a sensational shift from a flamboyant career as a reggae and dancehall artiste to become a minister of the gospel in reggae at the peak of her reggae and dancehall career after having shot herself to worldwide fame with hits such as ‘Nice and Naughty’ and ‘Dancehall Queen’. Chevelle declared her change on stage during a grand reggae and dancehall concert whilst on tour and remembered, ‘I was about to sing ‘Dancehall Queen’ and I just said to the crowd, I can’t do this,’ and I started to bawl. The people were staring at me. I said there is a song that I want to sing and it is Kirk Franklin’s ‘Silver and Gold’, so I sang that on stage and never want back to my dancehall ways.’
Afterwards Chevelle sent the audience to worship mood singing some popular worship songs before Danny Nettey and Cwesi Oteng joined her on stage for the end worship sessions. Chevelle took her time to sign her CD’s for patrons and take pictures with them after the concert ended. The bubbly Chevelle disclosed in an interview her Ghanaian experience. ‘My experience here in Ghana has been great and the Lord has been good. I just feel at home and thank all who made it possible for her to come to Ghana.’
Earlier on, Danny Nettey set the standard for the evening for the night by ministering his new single, ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ and then ‘My Redeemer Lives’, ‘Day or Night’ and then Changes before Joe Mettle, Kojo Oppong Adjei (of Sunny fame) and Denzel Agyemang-Prempeh rendered ‘I Am Not Forgotten’, ‘I’ve Got My Mind Up’ medley and ‘Sold Out’ respectively. Samme Crentsil was featured by Teddy (of Kings Jubilee fame) on ‘Stay Connected’ which patrons loved to bits. Later, Pastor Helen Yawson and Cwesi Oteng also blessed the audience with their respective ministrations. Pastor Helen sang her songs, ‘Anyday’ and the new ‘I Am’ while Cwesi Oteng’s re-arranged ‘My Desire’ and ‘Heart of Worship’ were very touching making some patrons to shed tears especially the solemn ending. This paved way for Chevelle Franklyn to do her thing.
‘Highland Prayz’ was the third edition of Danny Nettey’s quarterly Secret Place concerts with this edition taking a Caribbean focus where all songs were done in reggae vein. It was put together by IAT Music and Oasis Generation and sponsored by City Investments Capital, Help Station, DPI, Yetron Services, Meridian Pre-University, Riversyl and Media-Sam.
