Eighteen-year-old gospel/conscious artiste Christopher Nelson has made his way into the music industry with the debut of his single “Do My Best”, which was released on social media two Wednesdays ago. “Do My Best” is fast collecting great feedback because of the positivity of its message.
The singer/songwriter who hails from Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara has always been involved in various art forms at his church: singing, reciting poems, dramatizing or dancing. Church was the foundation of his upbringing and his single reflects this. His talent overflowed in Den Amstel Primary and he was often participating in one thing or another including Mashramani competitions. At one of these competitions he recalls singing the calypso “As A Small Boy In The Country”. In some cases, he overdid it and drumming on his desk he would belt out one reggae song after another and not so long after he had a group of peers following him. They all knew music ran through his veins and although he would sometimes annoy the teachers they made sure to take advantage of his talent and having him represent the school whenever the opportunity arose.
He also competed at the Day of Fellowship Competition that was hosted by the Guyana Congregational Young Peoples Union where he placed first in two consecutive years.
Christopher comes from a large family and is the seventh of nine children. He noted that a few of his siblings are involved in the arts also including one brother who plays the drums. He dabbles a bit on the drums from time to time and hopes to eventually learn to play either the guitar or keyboard or both.
Though Christopher knew he had a passion for music, he never picked up on how good he was, but it did not take others around very long to realize this. “I didn’t know I was so good until people would ask me to sing at events then seeing their reaction I realized this was my calling and this was God showing me and making a way for me to use my talent,” the young artiste said.
Apart from his music, Christopher is involved in a Math Club in his village which he started last year with friend, Kelwin Gittens. Every Sunday the Math Club gathers at his church, Ebenezer Congregational and gets busy solving problems. The idea of having a Math Club, he shared, stemmed from his participation in the Mathematics Programme (part of the Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics [STEM]) at the Robotics Olympics in Washington DC last year where 165 countries participated with Guyana finishing in the top ten.
“Do My Best” initially began as a song for the Guyana Robotic Olympics team which is headed to the competition slated for Mexico this month. However, Christopher will not be accompanying the team as he will be attending his brother’s wedding. The idea of a song for the group was thrown out by one of the members. However, wanting it to be relatable to everyone he had it tailored to suit both the competition and people in general to motivate everyone to do their best.
“One of the things I enjoy a lot is solving problems and I feel that producing positive music will contribute to making a change. You always find older persons trying to motivate younger persons and they are not listening but being a young person myself I feel I may be more inspiring. Young persons would often say, ‘When he was young like me, I sure he was doing the same thing.’ But I feel looking at me they would instead say, ‘If he can do it, then I could do it too.’ And that’s what I’m hoping for. If it’s only one person that I inspire to make a change then for me, I’ve made a difference even if by a little,” Christopher said.
The young artiste has written a few songs over the last three years and it was one of these that Christopher was sure he wanted to record. The song was recorded at Paradigm Studio. Ruth English (the sister of gospel singer Shawn English) sang backup in the single.
“Music brings joy to my soul. When I’m down, it’s uplifting, and this is what I want to provide in my music,” he said.
Two of the persons to have inspired the teen are gospel singer Samuel Medas and reggae artiste Chronixx.
Christopher is still working on getting his song out there. So far, he has used Facebook and YouTube as his outlets. He said persons who have heard it have been encouraging him to make more music. Right now, he’s challenged in getting airplay and is trying to see that it happens soon.
In the meantime, he is working on another song set be released by November and hopefully by the end of the year he would have recorded and released three songs.
The artiste who has just recently completed a Diploma in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering hopes to pursue a degree in the same at the University of Guyana from September. “[Once] I would have finished my degree, … this knowledge would be beneficial in my music as it would go hand in hand with me learning about the frequency in music and then maybe I can open my own studio. During that time, I would like to have released at least three albums and have had the opportunity of performing abroad,” he added.
Speaking about attracting fans, Christopher said that if an artiste sings positive songs that are relatable to the public then there will always be a flow of supporters.
The young man added that he has his own team of supporters: his family, church members, the STEM Guyana team, friends from Guyana Technical Institute, friends from Den Amstel Secondary and residents of Den Amstel.
Wanting to encourage youths like himself, Christopher admonished, “Whatever is your passion, just go for it. It all depends on your capabilities and your talent as you might not function well in an area your heart is not in. I believe if you allow God, He will guide you to where you should be.”
Christopher is currently doing work-study at the Civil Aviation Authority.
His hobbies include: singing, building robots, motivating others and travelling.
“Do My Best” is not up for sale as yet but persons can have a listen of the song on Facebook at Nelson L. Christopher or on YouTube at Christopher Nelson.
