04/08/2026
"I was squatting with somebody, just in one small corner of the room. My mum had given me ₦150,000 because I told her I wanted to set up a small studio. I used that money to set up a studio in another man’s house where I was squatting.
In that studio, there was no vocal booth. So, the way I recorded ‘Mma Mma’ was, I took the microphone and covered both myself and the mic with a blanket because we lived close to the roadside. You know, the car horns and all the noise. I just wanted to stop it from entering my recording.
The microphone was rubbish. There was nothing special about the equipment. Infact, the version of ‘Mma Mma’ that was released is the exact one I recorded there. I didn’t re-record it.
I recorded it under a blanket, singing, 'Lord You reign, forever You’re the same. Agama turu gi mma mma. You lifted me and gave me a song.' It was all done under a blanket while I was squatting with somebody.
So, you might ask, what kind of lifting is that? At that time, I had only two pairs of jeans and ate just once a day.
So one day, I was in church when a man walked up to me. He was one of the gospel music marketers then. His name is Honesty Music. He said, 'I came to see you.' I was surprised and asked, 'Me?' He said yes. He told me he heard I had a very big studio and had some songs I wanted to release.
I told him, number one, I have a pangolo studio. Number two, I’m squatting with somebody. He asked if he could hear the songs. I told him I had to seek permission from the person I was staying with because it wasn’t my house. Apparently, it was that same guy who had been telling people that we had a big studio in the house.
The marketer followed me home. When we got there, he asked me to show him the studio. I pointed at it and said, 'This is the studio.' He looked at it and said, this thing? He was so disappointed. He just said, okay, play the songs, let me hear them.
I played my first, second and third tracks, including 'Mma Mma.' None of them was professionally recorded. At that time, I was working somewhere and earning a salary of just ₦15,000.
After listening, the man asked, 'Do you mean you recorded these songs inside this place with what I’m hearing?' I said, yes, sir. He then asked, 'Can we have a deal?' I replied what deal? He said, 'Let me market these songs for two years. I’ll give you ₦4 million.' This was back in 2011.
You know when you hear something that doesn’t even make sense to your brain? I just said, no problem. The next day, he came with a contract and asked me to sign it. I flipped through the pages, saw where they wrote ₦4 million, signed immediately, I didn’t even read it. Make I chop first. Na who chop dey read. Thank God it wasn’t a b@d contract.
He paid me, and I was able to move out of that place into a bigger apartment and set up a better studio. The next major person I connected with after him was Don Moen at The Experience.
When he saw me, he called, 'Frank!' I was shocked. That moment felt like a dream. He said, 'Are you not the guy who sings?' I replied, yes, sir. Na me. He told me, 'I had already said that anytime I see you, we must do something together.' I didn’t lobby for it. He was the one who came to me. And guess what? That relationship turned my life around..."
- Renowned gospel singer Frank Edwards recounts recording his hit songs under a blanket while squatting, revealing how it led to his first ₦4 million deal.
