My mother hated seeing me play guitar with men – Mary Ghansah

Veteran gospel musician Mary Ghansah has opened up about the challenges she faced at the beginning of her music journey, revealing that her parents initially struggled to accept her decision to pursue music.

Speaking during a discussion with Empress Gifty on UCook on June 14, 2026, Mary Ghansah disclosed that she worked as a receptionist, then known as a telephonist, before venturing into music full-time.

According to her, choosing music as a career was not easy because her parents had different expectations for her future.

“Before my music career, I worked as a receptionist. In those days, it was a telephonist. It wasn’t easy from the beginning. My parents had their expectations for me, so when I told them I wanted to start singing, they didn’t understand,” she said.

She explained that although her parents were initially sceptical, they eventually accepted her decision and closely monitored her progress.

“Later, when I started, they had to adjust and accept it like that. They just observed me to see how things would go,” she stated.

Mary Ghansah further recounted how her mother became uncomfortable whenever people reported seeing her spending time with men while learning music.

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According to the gospel singer, her mother feared that her association with male musicians could negatively affect her reputation.

“Sometimes, people would inform my mother that they saw me playing guitar with a man, and she hated it. She felt I would be associated with men since they had to teach me how to play, and she didn’t want that,” she shared.

Despite the concerns, Mary Ghansah said she remained focused on her calling, believing that anything ordained by God would endure.

“I believed that anything that’s from God stays for a long time, so I wasn’t bothered,” she said.

She also revealed that she learned how to play the guitar from an Ewe man who frequently visited her and played one of her favourite songs.

“An ewe man taught me how to play the guitar. He used to play a song I liked, so whenever he visited me, I used to ask him to play it for me on the guitar. One day, he said he should teach me how to play the guitar rather than me bothering him to play it for me all the time. I observed how he played and I was able to learn from him,” she recounted.

Before my music career, I worked as a receptionist in my early days - Mary Ghansah#UCook pic.twitter.com/lbvdnLmcoX

— UTV Ghana (@utvghana) June 14, 2026