5 Questions With Ma-Isheeba

Ma-Isheeba is the woman who walks into a room, and heads automatically turn toward her. With her skin like ebony, her Afrocentric attire and winning smile, she makes a powerful statement, and everything comes together seamlessly when she takes a mic and starts singing. She has been singing all her life, and the girl, whose parents christened her Coral Gordon, is as accomplished as it gets in the world of music.

A singer-songwriter, backing vocalist – as well as a holistic wellness practitioner – Chyna Whyne as she was known formerly, has more than three decades in the global music industry. Her bio states that she has established herself as a powerhouse behind some of the world’s most famous tracks and has toured and recorded extensively with legendary artistes.

Ma-Isheeba has shared stages and toured alongside iconic acts like Eric Clapton, Seal, and The Who, while her vocals have enriched global hits, such as Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer, Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up, and projects with the legendary pop production trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman, including the song Roadblock.

She contributed backing vocals to Clapton’s album Pilgrim, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Album in 1999. The lead single My Father’s Eyes earned Clapton Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammys that same year. For her contribution to that album, Ma-Isheeba received two Grammy Certificates in 2024 at a ceremony organised by Back 2 Da Future Music Limited in collaboration with Royalty Network Inc.

On Tuesday, at the Excellence in Music Ceremony, she received five British Phonographic Industry-certified discs for her international recording contributions.

Ma-Isheeba was happy to tell 5 Questions With ... a little about her extraordinary.

1. What is the meaning and significance of your name?

Ma-Isheeba is an African name … an evolving name … returning back to my true source. Ma-Isheeba is just an enlightened being.

2. How important was it for you to be present at the Excellence in Music Ceremony?

Well, I live in Hanover, and my band came with me just to help me during the ceremony. I heard that I would be getting five awards, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to carry them all by myself. It was just a real honour to be awarded for all the work that I have been doing all these years. One of the awards was for Dina Carroll’s Don’t Be a Stranger, which I wrote. It was one of the singles from her multi-platinum début album, So Close. It became her biggest hit on the Official UK Charts, peaking at No. 3.

3. Tell us a little about your background.

I was born in England. My mother and father went to England during the Windrush era when they thought it was gonna be a good time to be living in London. But everybody knows how that story goes … when they got there, it was cold, it was racist, it was all these things that they didn’t expect. I was born into music. I grew up singing in the Pentecostal church in Croydon. But I was always coming back to Jamaica from [when] I was small … Jamaica was always my home; England was never really my home, to be honest with you. So, I’ve been back home 15 years now.

4. How did you break out from church into the secular world?

Secular world (laughs) that’s a big, big word. When I left school, I always knew that I wanted to sing, and all the teachers used to say, ‘You know, you need to get a proper job’. But I said I was going to sing and make a living, and they insisted that I needed to get a proper job. And I decided to prove them totally wrong.

I started hanging out at the clubs, introducing myself to different artistes and letting them know that I can sing. And, before you knew it, they [invited] me to one of their studio sessions, and the next minute I [was] on their shows… and before I knew it, I was working with singers like Eric Clapton and these major artistes.

I didn’t even have a manager … it was all word of mouth. At that time I was using the name Chyna Whyne. The thing is, when you magnetically attract the thing that you are, it just comes to you. I just knew that I wanted to sing. Dem call mi spoil pickney because I went from literally just starting out to flying around in private jets and going into the high-end element of things straight away almost.

5. How did you respond to all of that; did you get ‘hype’?

I think I did get a little bit hype. It is easy to get hype … but because I was always into yoga and always grounded myself and did my meditation, I never really went too wild. But it was a whole new world … only a certain percentage of people live in that world. Yes, I did like it … there were certain things that I didn’t like. There are things that the music industry can demand that you do, that you don’t really want to do. But you find yourself in a situation saying, ‘Oh, but this is my career’. But I was always the rebel; I never really conformed. That’s why it took me so long, because I would not do certain things in the industry, and I walked away.

BRAWTA

What are your most recent projects?

This is kinda like a comeback because I have released my first album in a long time ... Waters of the Womb. It is a healing album, and it is very in tune with where I am now. I’ve been working with various people at my home studio, and I play every Sunday in Hanover with my band.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com