'Gye No Di': Esther Smith remembers Kontihene's efforts to market her debut album

Gospel star Esther Smith has recalled efforts made by Hiplife star Kontihene to get her an executive producer after hearing her debut album.

The 10-track tape titled Gye No Di (Believe in God) was released in the year 2000 and became an instant hit, giving the singer national acclaim and awards.

Esther Smith sat down with Mr Lion on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, on Class 91.3 FM's Class Drive.

After recording Gye No Di with Morris Babyface at Hit Digital Studio, "I was looking for a producer. It wasn't easy for me at that time," she said.

Eventually, "when the executive producer came to the studio to hear the record, they said, "If I don't promote this, I will never prosper'."

Before this financial breakthrough, however, the singer-songwriter noted, "Kontihene had gone to hear the music and taken it to Megastar. He said the moment he heard Morris Babyface play the music in the studio, he was overcome by it."

She said, that despite the rapper's efforts, however, Megastar did not give the anticipated support.

Going back to the resourceful executive producer she secured, without providing a name, she said, "He put out the record two days after he received it."

"One day, I was going about my usual business when I heard Abeiku Santana playing the music on the radio," Esther Smith said, adding she was stunned.

Previously, she had not come to the capital city Accra before, "being a Kumasi girl," she said. When she and her team came to the capital "via a bus," and stopped at Peace FM, Mile 7, Achimota, she could not believe her ears as "everywhere we turned, they were playing the songs".

These events, she revealed, moved her to pen her 2002 hit Onyame Ben Ni (Wonderful God) to celebrate how God can suddenly turn someone's life around for good.

God had exceeded her expectations, since "I thought I was only going to have music success in Kejetia, Kumasi," the UK-based Ghanaian music legend said.