#this applies to so many actors wives though. and musicians wives

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

You ever see people dumping on actor's wives for no legitimate reason and you're like really? In 2022? You're gonna pull this middle schooler fangirl bullshit? And for what? Because you want the married men to fuck each other and you're mad they're not? Grow up and stop putting more misogyny into the world

#not me seeing danneel being called Jensen's ''bimbo wife'' in 2022 #this applies to so many actors wives though. and musicians wives

[peckhampeculiar]

Homecoming joy

Ayo-Dele Edwards' work is inspired by a rich mix of British and Nigerian musical and cultural influences. The singer-songwriter and actor tells us more

WORDS BY ROSARIO BLUE; PHOTO BY EMMANUEL EDWARDS

It’s not easy to pursue a dream. But for Ayo-Dele Edwards, the sense of accomplishment makes all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile.

Among the Lewisham resident’s many achievements are the penning of her debut album Forever Becoming, released in 2012, and her one-woman show Becoming, based on songs from the album. It recently enjoyed a short, sold-out run at the Stratford Circus Arts Centre as part of International Women’s Day 2019.

Ayo-Dele is also an actor, and has performed at venues from the Royal Court to the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Her credits include The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, a story of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria. It ran at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney – receiving a five-star review from the Guardian – toured in Nigeria and has just aired on BBC Radio 3.

Ayo-Dele, which means “my joy has come home” in Yoruba, was born in London, the fourth child of her Nigerian parents. Her family moved back to Nigeria when she was three.

There she adjusted to a new way of life, surrounded by a multitude of musical rhythms and sounds.

However, the family didn’t have a home to go to, so she lived a “nomadic” existence, staying with various relatives rather than her parents and siblings – an experience she found difficult.

Her journey into music began with her church choir. While living in Abeokuta, she found herself drawn to the genre of gospel, with its talking drums and lyrical voices.

“It was the joy,” she says. “It was the music that drew me to church, because the life that I was living was so sad, and I didn’t have family around me. Church was my escape.”

After six years, Ayo-Dele moved back to London aged 10 with her mum and went straight into school, with little time to adjust to the stark change in culture and environment.

At the same time her older brother introduced her to a variety of other music, including rare groove, pop, R&B and soul. Inspired by artists such as King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Good Women Choir, Bob Marley and Fela Kuti, her desire to sing intensified.

Later on, seeking a new direction in life, she left the Nigerian white garment church she had attended since early childhood and joined a Pentecostal church. “It was just like, ‘Something needs to change’,” she says. “And even though I didn’t really know God in that way I felt like something needed to happen.

“I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus and I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit was there to help me, to guide me, to protect me, to counsel me, to just be there for me.”

Her life changed again when she gave birth to a daughter. “It was after I had her that I gave my life, I rededicated my life to Jesus. I was like, ‘I want to know who this man is, I want to do it his way.’

“I wanted to know what I was going to offer this girl because I was 21, I had no direction, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.”

With her faith reborn and a healthy daughter to be proud of, Ayo-Dele took another leap of faith and applied to drama school. Her application was successful and she joined the renowned Mountview theatre academy in Wood Green, before it moved to Peckham in 2018.

Her experience of drama school, where she studied for three years, was very different to that of her fellow students.

“Because I had my daughter, I didn’t even get involved in student life. I was the only student who had a child. I was just in and out. I was like, ‘I need to sort my life out, I’m not here to get drunk at night and go off and be wild. I’ve got to be responsible for my child.’”

While at drama school she began session singing for bands like Boyzone and doing TV shows. When her daughter turned five, she met her husband Emmanuel Edwards, a musician and music producer.

In 2002 she joined award-winning gospel group GK Real, who were together for 10 years. “We did an album with the group. I sang a few songs on that and even then, I didn’t particularly see myself as a soloist.

“I liked being in a group, but it wasn’t until after the group decided to go on a break that my husband was like, ‘OK, so what are you going to do with your stuff? You’ve got a story and you’ve got songs in you, so you should consider putting out an album.’”

After careful consideration she decided to give it a shot and set about recording some tracks.

“It was just pulling together all the songs that I’d sung, written, that I’d hum around the house. We went into the studio and I sang them for him and he was like, ‘Yeah’.”

The result, Forever Becoming, is a highly personal album that is an eclectic mixture of Nigerian rhythms, gospel and pop, sung in Yoruba and English.

It explores Ayo-Dele’s dual identity, and addresses her painful memories and harsh realities. Despite all of this there is a sentiment of hope and overcoming adversity threaded through each song.

Titilayo, the first track from the album, is the name of Ayo-Dele’s sister who had become estranged from the family. Ayo-Dele wrote the song on her mother’s behalf and as an expression of how much she herself missed her sister and the unity their family once had.

“It’s kind of that prayer of wanting to see your family reconciled, and wanting to see your family together again,” she explains.

Other tracks include a Yoruba rendition of Gershwin’s Summertime and a musical reimagining of Psalm 91, as well as Daddy’s Girl, a song about longing for a relationship that never was and how that absence can negatively manifest itself in adulthood.

Following a TEDxEuston talk about her experiences of growing up in Nigeria and Britain (it’s available to watch on YouTube) and a music and storytelling-filled album launch directed by Femi Elufowoju Jr, a friend of Ayo-Dele’s suggested she make the album into a one-woman show.

“We began to listen to the album again and he asked me what the stories were. I told him and we did a couple of showcases [at the Arcola Theatre] where we tested it out for an audience to see if it was actually worth pursuing.

“Everyone was like, ‘We need more – more songs. What happened here? What happened there? Tell us more.’ So, I did that.”

If she is able to secure funding, Ayo-Dele plans to tour Becoming in various UK theatres in 2020. She also wants to do more work in the local community, especially now that her youngest daughter is in school.

“I tend to travel a lot for work and then come back home [to Lewisham] to sleep, but now because I have a five year old and she’s in a school in Blackheath, I’m trying to connect more with the community.”

Get ready to see a lot more of Ayo- Dele in 2020.

Forever Becoming is available on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. ayo-dele.com

[lewishamledger]

Homecoming joy

Ayo-Dele Edwards' work is inspired by a rich mix of British and Nigerian musical and cultural influences. The singer-songwriter and actor tells us more

WORDS BY ROSARIO BLUE; PHOTO BY EMMANUEL EDWARDS

It’s not easy to pursue a dream. But for Ayo-Dele Edwards, the sense of accomplishment makes all the blood, sweat and tears worthwhile.

Among the Lewisham resident’s many achievements are the penning of her debut album Forever Becoming, released in 2012, and her one-woman show Becoming, based on songs from the album. It recently enjoyed a short, sold-out run at the Stratford Circus Arts Centre as part of International Women’s Day 2019.

Ayo-Dele is also an actor, and has performed at venues from the Royal Court to the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Her credits include The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, a story of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria. It ran at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney – receiving a five-star review from the Guardian – toured in Nigeria and has just aired on BBC Radio 3.

Ayo-Dele, which means “my joy has come home” in Yoruba, was born in London, the fourth child of her Nigerian parents. Her family moved back to Nigeria when she was three.

There she adjusted to a new way of life, surrounded by a multitude of musical rhythms and sounds.

However, the family didn’t have a home to go to, so she lived a “nomadic” existence, staying with various relatives rather than her parents and siblings – an experience she found difficult.

Her journey into music began with her church choir. While living in Abeokuta, she found herself drawn to the genre of gospel, with its talking drums and lyrical voices.

“It was the joy,” she says. “It was the music that drew me to church, because the life that I was living was so sad, and I didn’t have family around me. Church was my escape.”

After six years, Ayo-Dele moved back to London aged 10 with her mum and went straight into school, with little time to adjust to the stark change in culture and environment.

At the same time her older brother introduced her to a variety of other music, including rare groove, pop, R&B and soul. Inspired by artists such as King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Good Women Choir, Bob Marley and Fela Kuti, her desire to sing intensified.

Later on, seeking a new direction in life, she left the Nigerian white garment church she had attended since early childhood and joined a Pentecostal church. “It was just like, ‘Something needs to change’,” she says. “And even though I didn’t really know God in that way I felt like something needed to happen.

“I didn’t have a relationship with Jesus and I didn’t know that the Holy Spirit was there to help me, to guide me, to protect me, to counsel me, to just be there for me.”

Her life changed again when she gave birth to a daughter. “It was after I had her that I gave my life, I rededicated my life to Jesus. I was like, ‘I want to know who this man is, I want to do it his way.’

“I wanted to know what I was going to offer this girl because I was 21, I had no direction, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.”

With her faith reborn and a healthy daughter to be proud of, Ayo-Dele took another leap of faith and applied to drama school. Her application was successful and she joined the renowned Mountview theatre academy in Wood Green, before it moved to Peckham in 2018.

Her experience of drama school, where she studied for three years, was very different to that of her fellow students.

“Because I had my daughter, I didn’t even get involved in student life. I was the only student who had a child. I was just in and out. I was like, ‘I need to sort my life out, I’m not here to get drunk at night and go off and be wild. I’ve got to be responsible for my child.’”

While at drama school she began session singing for bands like Boyzone and doing TV shows. When her daughter turned five, she met her husband Emmanuel Edwards, a musician and music producer.

In 2002 she joined award-winning gospel group GK Real, who were together for 10 years. “We did an album with the group. I sang a few songs on that and even then, I didn’t particularly see myself as a soloist.

“I liked being in a group, but it wasn’t until after the group decided to go on a break that my husband was like, ‘OK, so what are you going to do with your stuff? You’ve got a story and you’ve got songs in you, so you should consider putting out an album.’”

After careful consideration she decided to give it a shot and set about recording some tracks.

“It was just pulling together all the songs that I’d sung, written, that I’d hum around the house. We went into the studio and I sang them for him and he was like, ‘Yeah’.”

The result, Forever Becoming, is a highly personal album that is an eclectic mixture of Nigerian rhythms, gospel and pop, sung in Yoruba and English.

It explores Ayo-Dele’s dual identity, and addresses her painful memories and harsh realities. Despite all of this there is a sentiment of hope and overcoming adversity threaded through each song.

Titilayo, the first track from the album, is the name of Ayo-Dele’s sister who had become estranged from the family. Ayo-Dele wrote the song on her mother’s behalf and as an expression of how much she herself missed her sister and the unity their family once had.

“It’s kind of that prayer of wanting to see your family reconciled, and wanting to see your family together again,” she explains.

Other tracks include a Yoruba rendition of Gershwin’s Summertime and a musical reimagining of Psalm 91, as well as Daddy’s Girl, a song about longing for a relationship that never was and how that absence can negatively manifest itself in adulthood.

Following a TEDxEuston talk about her experiences of growing up in Nigeria and Britain (it’s available to watch on YouTube) and a music and storytelling-filled album launch directed by Femi Elufowoju Jr, a friend of Ayo-Dele’s suggested she make the album into a one-woman show.

“We began to listen to the album again and he asked me what the stories were. I told him and we did a couple of showcases [at the Arcola Theatre] where we tested it out for an audience to see if it was actually worth pursuing.

“Everyone was like, ‘We need more – more songs. What happened here? What happened there? Tell us more.’ So, I did that.”

If she is able to secure funding, Ayo-Dele plans to tour Becoming in various UK theatres in 2020. She also wants to do more work in the local community, especially now that her youngest daughter is in school.

“I tend to travel a lot for work and then come back home [to Lewisham] to sleep, but now because I have a five year old and she’s in a school in Blackheath, I’m trying to connect more with the community.”

Get ready to see a lot more of Ayo- Dele in 2020.

Forever Becoming is available on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify. ayo-dele.com