The story of contemporary and most happening Zambian musicians would
be incomplete without the mention of Bruce Simbwalanga, better known as
B1.
A great song writer and sage, B1 has three albums to his ever towering
credentials, namely Chipute, Pillow and Perfecto.
B1 has not suffered from the anasila disease since he penetrated the music
circles seven years ago.
Coming from a humble background, the singer at present attributes his
success to passion for music, hard work and mostly the culture of saving
money.
B1 was born on June 6, 1982 in Mazabuka to Marshal Simbwalanga and
Alice Njovu.
He began primary education at Mwata Basic School in Kalomo in 1988 and
later moved to Kabwe before going to Chibombo, where he completed
grade 12 in 2000.
While in high school, B1 developed a passion for music and stage names
such as Nat B were born.
He says friends that he used to rap with gave him the name.
Sadly, before his grade 12 results were out,
B1 lost his mother, whom he
lived with since childhood.
After his mother’s passing, B1 decided to relocate to Lusaka.
The singer recalls that life was tough for him when he arrived in Zambia’s
capital city.
He worked in one of his uncles’ hardware shop at Soweto market.
Unfortunately, his uncle too, later died.
During this period, the singer had plans to pursue a diploma in IMIS, but
he continued with the hardware business which he supervised together with
a relative.
He began running a small store to raise money for his tuition fees at the
National Institute of Public Administration.
In 2003, B1 enrolled to study IMIS at NIPA but dropped out in the second
semester due to lack of funds.
“I almost clocked a year at NIPA but hey, it was hard for me, I had to pay
rentals, tuition fees and all, so I discontinued.”
The Pillow singer went back to hustling at Soweto Market and managed to
purchase a pool table which he began renting out to a small bar in Lusaka’s
Zangalume area.
According to him, the owner of the bar eventually became bankrupt and B1
took over the aptly named The Joint.
He says that he managed to save money made from the pool table which
helped him pay his rentals.
At the time, he was already involved in music and wrote several songs that
never got recorded.
The singer got his break when he met with Jerry Fingaz, one of Zambia’s
best music producers.
“I remember going in the studio almost every day but couldn’t get into the
studio because he had a lot of people that wanted to record. So one day I
found a guy in the studio and I told Jerry Fingaz that I had to record or else
he was going to give me back my money because I paid him. I got upset,
but he told me not to worry and that is how I managed to record Chipute.
The song became the first B1 recorded with Jerry Fingaz in 2008.
He says he changed his name to B1 soon after recording Chipute.
The letter B on the song, according to him, came from Bruce and 1 came
about because he always wanted to be on top in life.
Despite working on the song, B1 says that his expectations were not high
as he had almost lost hope in the music business.
“After recording Chipute, I remember going home almost crying because
life was just tough. I used to walk all the way from Kamwala to Zingalume
where I lived before shifting to Lilanda.
”
Meanwhile, due to the lack of a licence for his bar, B1 faced challenges
with the Lusaka City Council.
Oftentimes, council authorities confiscated his alcohol, such were huge
drawbacks for the bar.
The pool table however survived and served as his source of income most
of the time.
Little did the singer know that Chipute would one day be a hit on the local
music scene.
He recalls how patrons danced to his song at The Joint.
“People used to dance to it not knowing it was my song and I would just be
behind the counter selling beer. I didn’t even have a video so people could
not connect the face until I went to Willie Jinx who shot a video for me and
I remember my first-ever show for the Chipute song was at East Point in
Chipata.
He recalls an incident of impersonation that occured in Chipata before
many people knew who he was.
According to the singer, a young man swindled bar owners out of their
money purporting to be B1, but that his deeds came to an abrupt end when
Anthony Likai, proprietor of East Point Discoteque nightclubs in Zambia
invited the real artiste to perform in Chipata.
He says Likai was tipped that the young man in Chipata was an
impersonator and therefore decided to contact the original B1 to travel to
Chipata and make an appearance.
When he reached Chipata, he was briefed about the boy who was
impersonating him.
East Point management had planned to embarrass the impersonator and the
plan was successful.
“The guy cried like a baby on stage and he was made to apologise. Then we
did the same song together. It was the original and fake B1 on stage! We
laughed about it,” he recalls.
From that time, the singer’s career began flourishing and he released his
debut album in 2009.
The album Pillow followed before the smash hit Perfecto, two years later.
Around this period, B1′s name was becoming more pronounced, hence his
concentration on business at the bar reduced.
“I was making some money from shows now because the name was
becoming big except the bar was still the same, so I couldn’t push the
Shake Shake wheelbarrows any more. But it was a very good experience. I
learnt how to save even the little money that I made,” he adds.
He says due to frequent travelling, he employed people to run the bar, but
that several times, they stole from him and that is how he gave up on that
business.
B1 went ahead to buy his first Hiace minibus for business in 2011.
“I did this because in music, there is no guarantee. Today, you have a hit,
and tomorrow you may not have. So I told myself that I needed something
that would sustain me,” says B1, who also bought his first car – a Toyota
Vista – around the same period.
Around that time, the singer had moved to a two-room house and one day
as he did his laundry while following the presidential election campaign
debates, he thought of doing a song in those lines and that is how the song
Mr Perfecto emerged.
The song was almost banned on Zambia National Broadcasting
Corporation but this only made the singer more popular.
“I have ways of communicating in my music, I don’t believe in being
plain. I believe music is supposed to be an art. If I say I love you, I’m not
going to say it directly just like that because it has to be exciting. Not
bragging but I think Perfecto is one of the well written Zed songs so far,”
he says.
“The Perfecto song made me a very busy guy. I had no free weekend, I
even performed during the week, I featured on almost all radio stations for
interviews. So the Perfecto album, which also has Sikiliti ku bed’, was a
huge success really. I made a lot of money.”
He explains that Sikiliti addresses many issues that affect society,
including infertility.
Last year, B1 performed in London for the first time during Zambia’s
independence celebrations and this week, the father of three will tour parts
of the US for charity concerts organised by an NGO called Touch of an
Angel.
Among cities the singer will tour are Atlanta and Dallas.
Proceeds from the shows will help vulnerable people in Zambia.
He says God has been so good to him that he now has four Hiace minibuses
operating within Lusaka.
And for the first time in his life, B1 is living in his own house.
“It has not been easy, but I’m now living in my own house and it feels
good. I have deleted my landlord’s mobile number,” he happily shares.
He credits Likai, popularly known as Uncle Tony, for helping him find the
area of land where he has built a house in Chamba Valley Meanwood.
B1 urges fellow musicians to embrace the culture of saving if they are to
better their lives.
He notes that artistes make money except they over-spend, adding that
most of them make a minimum of K2,000 per week.
B1 also advises Zambians to appreciate local music.
He says the culture of staging free musical shows at nightclubs is killing
Zambian music as fans get used to the idea and fail to pay when time
comes.
“Corporate institutions too should work with artistes, especially when it
comes to adverts. I encourage them to empower more artistes through such
ventures,” he adds.
The singer has since released three singles from his upcoming album and
hopes to penetrate the international market.
Besides UK, the singer has performed in Mozambique, South Africa,
Namibia and Malawi where he credits Orga Family for introducing him to
his Malawian fans.
In the next ten years, B1 wants to be a music icon and a major
businessman especially because he loves to make money and spend it.
“My success has more to do with the kind of a person I am and my
background. I haven’t had it easy and I wouldn’t want to go back to where I
came from. My culture of saving has really helped me. Even from the
small bar in Zangalume, I used to save where I made about K300 on a good
day,” he shares.
B1 says he is not married but seeing someone presently.He loves to watch
movies in his free time and enjoys nshima with okra and ifisashi (pumpkin
leaves mixed with groundnuts paste).
Source:The Post Newspaper
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