JLS: Our Story so Far

Photography and creative direction by

I’m a very interesting, quirky, fun-loving person—apparently. Well, that’s what my friends say, anyway. I wrote my first song when I was ten, so I’ve been writing songs for a very long time!

My name means ‘you are universally blessed’ and it comes from a tribe in Nigeria; however my family are originally from the Caribbean. I like my name but people never get it right—it’s always been a problem. No one spells it right: the papers are the worst.

I spent two years in Nigeria between the ages of sixteen and eighteen; a family member was working in Lagos and I decided to take the opportunity to go over there and experience life in a different country.

The idea of taking the conventional route from school to college bored me and I was looking for new experiences. I wanted something more vibrant and exciting in my life. I had issues at my school in England, just because I was very outspoken and the teachers tended not to like it. I went to a very good school; it was one of the best state schools in London.

Everyone was planning to go to sixth form college, but I felt that my best interests lay elsewhere. Everything changed for me when I walked into the careers advice office and said, ‘I want to be a singer, a musician.’

OPPOSITE: ME AS THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN MY PRE-SCHOOL ASSEMBLY, BAMBOOZLED AS THE MICROPHONE WAS TOO HIGH FOR ME TO SING, HAHA!

‘Forget it,’ I was told. ‘Think about something else, like catering.’ That was what really turned me to drastic action.

I got reasonable GCSEs; I could have worked harder, but I was always distracted by music. In my exams I’d be writing songs. Nobody could understand it. I kept on saying to my mum and my teachers, ‘I don’t understand why I’m so distracted by music. I don’t know what it is; it’s almost like a drug, I can’t help it.’

The school got really fed up with me. It was very traditional and there was also no way that I could hone my talent and my musicality. The best way I could work on my creativity was through English Literature and English Language. English was the subject that got me through the whole of my school career. My favourite works are by the metaphysical poets, like John Donne.

I fell in love when I was fifteen. I don’t know if it was puppy love, but the moment I saw her, I started feeling something I’d never felt before. It was weird. My insides collapsed! I chased her, asking her out all the time. Looking back, I don’t know if she was interested or not; perhaps she was just leading me on. If so, she led me on for a very long time. I was so infatuated with her that when I went to Nigeria I didn’t even look for a girlfriend.

When I came back, I still wanted to be with her. I sent her flowers, I did big things for her birthday and I always sent her stuff, even though I had no money. Everybody said I was a fool. ‘Just let go,’ they said. ‘Don’t go there any more.’

Then I met a girl who helped me get over her, but I still thought about her and I ended up by myself again. I think the attraction was that she was different from every other girl in my social circle. She was intelligent, she was beautiful, she was confident, she had a great attitude and there was always a sparkle in her eyes. I loved the fact that she could really hold her own; I could see myself being with her for a long time.

I made friends in Nigeria, but I was often alone, literally by myself. It was the loneliest time of my life. I used to sit alone in my hostel room for hours, until the boredom became so extreme that I began to feel I was losing myself. So I picked up my guitar and, although I couldn’t really play guitar, I plucked away and wrote songs from chords. I wrote, wrote, wrote and sang, sang, sang: that’s all I did.

Lagos is a very crazy place and I had a few life-threatening experiences there, so I learned to survive during that time. It wasn’t easy being a foreigner, but I made it through. My mum was concerned about me being there and my grandma was even more concerned. Everybody around me was concerned; everybody was scared for me.