Meet Sheperd, the new voice of Dancehall music in Ghana

It is said a child must always learn to crawl before walking before been able to run.

Hence, when Sheperd decided to do music after school, it came as no surprise as the talent in him begun to manifest as he had learnt the ropes while growing up.

Born Samuel Takyi Selby some twenty-nine (29) years ago, the intelligent young man decided to adopt the stage name Sheperd and commit to dancehall genre.

He’s the prime artiste of a record label he co-founded: INM records.

Hailing from Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana, he had his primary and secondary education at University Practice basic school and Winneba Secondary School respectively.

He proceeded to the University of Education, Winneba, where he pursued a diploma and subsequently, a degree program in Early childhood Education and Psychology respectively.

A year after obtaining his first degree, Sheperd enrolled again in the same University for a Master of Art degree in Communication and Media Studies.

Currently, he’s the first and only Ghanaian dancehall artiste to have obtained a Masters Degree.

According to the artiste, he identified his passion for music at a very tender age and, was consequently inducted into the senior choir Of St John’s Anglican Church, Winneba by his grandfather.

Sheperd said he started writing and recording his own songs at second year in secondary school, where he featured on six songs out of a twelve track compilation album which was produced by the entertainment committee of his year group, of which his manager and founder of his record label, Nana Yaw Owusu-Ansah is the head.

He released “Party time” in 2012 which earned him tremendous recognition in the reggae/dancehall fraternity.

Sheperd has since then had countless collaborations with both established and upcoming musicians.

One of such collaborations was with Ghanaian sensational rap artiste, Yaa Pono, on the song “Whine Pon Mi” in 2014. As an artiste, he has performed at numerous shows and on several platforms

During his undergraduate studies, Sheperd performed at almost every event at his University as well as those of other Universities like University of Cape Coast and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology alongside artistes like Stonebwoy, Samini, Edem, Buk Bak, Okomfour Kwaadei, Teephlow, Strongman among others.

The Winneba based Dancehall artiste has over the years featured on copious dancehall riddim projects by various labels and has as well worked with a range of adept music producers like Laxio Beats, Brainy Beats, Riddim Boss, CasKeys Onit, Mixmaster Garzy and Brown Beats.

In a nutshell, Sheperd has over the years gathered quite an impressive experience which has shapen him into a proficient artiste by all standards.