Adaeze [pronounced “uh-daisy”… like a flower]
is one unique young lady. Born in London,
England along with her three older brothers,
she was brought up in a healthy Christian
home by her loving parents. By the time she
was 2 years old, her family moved to Tulsa,
OK, which is where Adaeze discovered her love
of music from a very young age. Inspired by
her oldest brother Zo to begin playing piano,
Adaeze also began writing songs. Her first
song she wrote was entitled “Eternity,” the
title track for her new debut album that
released November 21, 2008. Even from when
she was a child, her love for God burned deep,
as the chorus of her first song stated her life
goal: “I want my life to count for eternity. I
want to hear You say to me, ‘Well done. You’ve
been My servant good and faithfully. Now
come, spend eternity with Me.’”

It didn’t take long for Adaeze to realize that
music was her passion. She continued writing
music that God gave her; and as her family
moved to Lexington, KY after her freshman
year of high school, she began recording with
two of her older brothers, Zo and Jay. In her
early high school years, she recorded over 70
of her songs, all of which she wrote herself,
with her brothers making her music. Using
them to perform, Adaeze began to realize her
dream of making an album and using this gift
God had given her to further His Kingdom.
When she got a scholarship to play basketball
at a Division 1 university in Tennessee, she
jumped at the opportunity. However, through
a variety of circumstances, God gently showed
her that her basketball dreams had too long
been the center of her life, coming before her
relationship with God. “Sometimes our plans
and dreams aren’t the same as God’s plans
and dreams for us,” Adaeze has said. “And
God knows best. I had to reevaluate my life
and prioritize everything. It was a very interes-
ting time in my little comfortable world.” She
walked away from the game of basketball after
her freshman year of college, and moved back
to Lexington. There, she surrendered her
future “to the One Who sees the big picture.
Apparently, basketball wasn’t my passion, or
God’s plan for me. Music was.” Good thing too,
because her voice and song-writing would
have been a terrible thing to waste and be
sidelined behind her love of basketball. “I
realized that basketball wasn’t everything…
and it had been all my life. All of my brothers
played basketball from kindergarten; so did I.”
One of her brothers, Kelenna, is even in the
NBA, playing on the Golden State Warriors
(#7).

In her heart, Adaeze knew that she was mak-
ing the right choice going with music. Her true
passion is praise and worship; once she moved
back to Lexington and transferred to University
of Kentucky, she was already helping lead
praise and worship for the college ministry at
her home church, Southland Christian Church.
She also began leading praise and worship for
the University of Kentucky’s Christian Student
Fellowship. She started recording with a
couple of her good friends who had recording
booths for closets; those same friends later
formed a band called the Field Goal Unit. When
the Field Goal Unit came out with their debut
album, The Kickoff, Adaeze says it was like a
wakeup call. “It was like God was saying to
me, ‘Hellooooo! What are you waiting for?
You should be recording for your album too!’ I
didn’t need much else to start my recording
process, to say the least.” And so began the
road to Eternity, her very first album. Her
brother Jay had still been making music, and
provided all but two tracks’ music on the
album. The other two were provided by the
Field Goal Unit’s members, AJ Hochhalter and
Blake Morris. Adaeze wrote all the songs,
except for “Stay,” which she co-wrote with her
brother Jay, and “You Have Everything,” co-
written with AJ and Blake. “Turn Around” and
“Resisting Temptation” were written with her
good friend Clayton York, who appears as a
special guest on those same tracks. Having
recorded the entire album in closets-made-
into-recording-booths, Adaeze also produced
the album. All of this was done within a span
of one month. God sure does know what He’s
doing when He changes plans.

Now Adaeze dreams bigger than she ever has,
knowing that she sings for the God Who can do
exceedingly and abundantly more than we can
ask or think (Ephesians 3:20), as she sings in
her song “I Can Do Anything.” There’s a new
voice in the Christian music industry, with a
new refreshing sound of Christian Hip Hop and
R&B. She has yet to be signed to a major
recording label, but don’t expect that to stop
her.