The seed of friendship that Jane and Bernice sowed at the Word of Life Christian Centre in Accra, about 15 years ago, continues to bear fruits of “sweet” gospel music to feed the souls of many Christians.
According to the gospel divas, Bernice was the lead singer for the youth choir of the church, while Jane was a church member who occasionally visited the youth choir to advise them and sometimes sing.
“The youth pastor of the church, Rev Ebenezer Opare, discovered our talents and advised us to come together and sing as a group, and that marked the beginning of our career,” the two told The Mirror.
“Our first performance together was at a youth programme and we sang one of the songs Jane had composed titled He Sits on High.
The impact we made was so great that we were invited to the International Central Gospel Church by one Rev Okyere to minister to the congregation there,” Bernice recalled.
Rev Opare took them to the various branches of the Word of Life Christian Centre where they ministered. They also sang at weddings and other programmes for four years.
The year 1995 saw Jane and Bernice releasing their first album titled Ose Ye which was recorded at the then Ghana Film Studio. The duo’s instrumentalists to date are called the Zithers.
Jane and Bernice said their first album was a big hit and they followed it up with another album the following year titled Calvary Abrantie which also did very well on the market.
Fortunately for them, after the second album, they came into contact with one Quayson Kay in Holland who combined their two albums and put it on a Compact Disc (CD). This was their first CD.
Thus, Jane and Bernice spent part of 1997 in Holland and other countries to promote their album.
Nkwagye Kuruwa (Cup of Salvation) is the title of the third album of Jane and Bernice which was released in 1998.
For close to two years, Jane and Bernice said they did a lot of research and hard work to come out with yet another big hit Ayeyie in 2000.
“Our songs have always been an inspiration to people and performed well on the market so we really had worked hard to ensure that we improved on our previous albums,” they said.
Jane and Bernice’s latest album is titled Asem No Nie (This is the Word) which was released about four months ago. Asem No Nie was recorded live.
They said Asem No Nie “because we are bringing to our fans the word of God. The album contains songs of prayer, praise, worship, admonition and encouragement.”
Jane writes all the songs and one remarkable thing about the duo is that they always perform live.
“Live performances are more exciting. It enables you to add new things to your performance which you could not do in the studio,” they said.
Jane said: “I get my inspiration from God, the preaching I listen to, as well as experiences and testimonies of people and Christian literature.”
Every year they organise a concert dubbed “Flashes of Jane and Bernice” and explained that they had not been able to organise this year’s because the venue for the programme is fully booked. They are still looking for a good venue and are hopeful that it would come on before the end of the year.
Next year, they plan to tour the regions and have targeted the secondary schools because they want to “catch them young for Christ.”
Bernice Mohammed attended Cambridge Preparatory School at Korle Gonno in Accra. She continued to the Social Advance Institute for her GCE ‘O’ Level and later obtained a diploma in accounting at the same institute.
She later worked with Challenge Enterprise, Kokomlemle, before going into full-time music.
Jane Aryeh schooled at Akropong Akwapim and had her secondary education at O’Reilly Secondary School in Accra.
She did a stenography course at Manifold Tutorial College and a one-year computer programme at NCR.
Jane also worked with Challenge Enterprise, Kokomlemle, before going into full-time music.
Jane says “many people are into gospel music which is encouraging because Christ is being preached to the people. His name is being lifted high and he will draw all souls to him.”
Bernice says “the gospel music industry has a big future and we need to work hard. We can do better than we are doing now.”
To their fans they say: “Keep on praying for Jane and Bernice, do correct us when we go off track.
The duo won two awards at the 2002 Ghana Music Awards, namely, Best Gospel Album and Best Female Vocal Performance.
They also have to their credit the Unity Awards for Outstanding Gospel Artiste in 2002, and the Ghanaian community in Holland also honoured them for lifting high the name of Ghana.
The seed of friendship that Jane and Bernice sowed at the Word of Life Christian Centre in Accra, about 15 years ago, continues to bear fruits of “sweet” gospel music to feed the souls of many Christians.
According to the gospel divas, Bernice was the lead singer for the youth choir of the church, while Jane was a church member who occasionally visited the youth choir to advise them and sometimes sing.
“The youth pastor of the church, Rev Ebenezer Opare, discovered our talents and advised us to come together and sing as a group, and that marked the beginning of our career,” the two told The Mirror.
“Our first performance together was at a youth programme and we sang one of the songs Jane had composed titled He Sits on High.
The impact we made was so great that we were invited to the International Central Gospel Church by one Rev Okyere to minister to the congregation there,” Bernice recalled.
Rev Opare took them to the various branches of the Word of Life Christian Centre where they ministered. They also sang at weddings and other programmes for four years.
The year 1995 saw Jane and Bernice releasing their first album titled Ose Ye which was recorded at the then Ghana Film Studio. The duo’s instrumentalists to date are called the Zithers.
Jane and Bernice said their first album was a big hit and they followed it up with another album the following year titled Calvary Abrantie which also did very well on the market.
Fortunately for them, after the second album, they came into contact with one Quayson Kay in Holland who combined their two albums and put it on a Compact Disc (CD). This was their first CD.
Thus, Jane and Bernice spent part of 1997 in Holland and other countries to promote their album.
Nkwagye Kuruwa (Cup of Salvation) is the title of the third album of Jane and Bernice which was released in 1998.
For close to two years, Jane and Bernice said they did a lot of research and hard work to come out with yet another big hit Ayeyie in 2000.
“Our songs have always been an inspiration to people and performed well on the market so we really had worked hard to ensure that we improved on our previous albums,” they said.
Jane and Bernice’s latest album is titled Asem No Nie (This is the Word) which was released about four months ago. Asem No Nie was recorded live.
They said Asem No Nie “because we are bringing to our fans the word of God. The album contains songs of prayer, praise, worship, admonition and encouragement.”
Jane writes all the songs and one remarkable thing about the duo is that they always perform live.
“Live performances are more exciting. It enables you to add new things to your performance which you could not do in the studio,” they said.
Jane said: “I get my inspiration from God, the preaching I listen to, as well as experiences and testimonies of people and Christian literature.”
Every year they organise a concert dubbed “Flashes of Jane and Bernice” and explained that they had not been able to organise this year’s because the venue for the programme is fully booked. They are still looking for a good venue and are hopeful that it would come on before the end of the year.
Next year, they plan to tour the regions and have targeted the secondary schools because they want to “catch them young for Christ.”
Bernice Mohammed attended Cambridge Preparatory School at Korle Gonno in Accra. She continued to the Social Advance Institute for her GCE ‘O’ Level and later obtained a diploma in accounting at the same institute.
She later worked with Challenge Enterprise, Kokomlemle, before going into full-time music.
Jane Aryeh schooled at Akropong Akwapim and had her secondary education at O’Reilly Secondary School in Accra.
She did a stenography course at Manifold Tutorial College and a one-year computer programme at NCR.
Jane also worked with Challenge Enterprise, Kokomlemle, before going into full-time music.
Jane says “many people are into gospel music which is encouraging because Christ is being preached to the people. His name is being lifted high and he will draw all souls to him.”
Bernice says “the gospel music industry has a big future and we need to work hard. We can do better than we are doing now.”
To their fans they say: “Keep on praying for Jane and Bernice, do correct us when we go off track.
The duo won two awards at the 2002 Ghana Music Awards, namely, Best Gospel Album and Best Female Vocal Performance.
They also have to their credit the Unity Awards for Outstanding Gospel Artiste in 2002, and the Ghanaian community in Holland also honoured them for lifting high the name of Ghana.
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