Meet Grace Nakimera

Grace Nakimera has gone through her trials and tribulations as part of the trio Grace, Gatimo and Paragon of “Ani akumanyi” (who knows you) fame. After the trio split she went silent for a while and she’s came back with a hit “Anfukula” that’s been doing its round on Uganda’s radio scene for a while now and has just released “Kiba Kuki”. She’s now all grown up into a focused business woman as the owner of Pinky Ladies saloon located at Backlines’ House (Katatumba suites) and mother too. Music Uganda caught up with her;

MU:  Tell us about Grace’s personality like?
Grace: I am a people’s person, I have a strong personality; I like to hang with good people around me.

MU: What’s the first thing you do in the morning?
Grace: The first thing I do in the morning is check on my daughter Mariah Shanel. I sleep with her.

MU: So where’s Grace from?
Grace: Grace is from a village in Muyanga, Bukasa.

MU:  What was your personality like while growing up?
Grace: I was a very shy child. I’ve not really come over it yet.

MU: When did you venture into music as an art?
Grace: My first performance was when I was seven years old with my brother Junior, who is also my manager. And from that moment on, I knew I wanted to do my music and I pushed it on till today.

MU: Now that you’re a mom, how do you balance between being a mother and your musical career?
Grace: You see when you’re at home you’re a mum but when you’re on stage you’re an artist, you’re a Diva. It’s basically about how you take care of your life’s responsibilities.

MU: When you recorded “Ani Akumanyi” You were a trio with Grace, Gatimo and
Paragon, now you went single how are you handling as a single act?
Grace: It’s not a joke. You have to keep pushing on hard. People are seldom used to seeing you as a group but then out of the blue you come out as a solo artist. So you coming out alone is quite a brave move so it wasn’t a joke for me but its paying off well because people are now accepting me as a solo artist and I thank and respect them for that.

MU: What do you think is your position as a Ugandan female recording artist in Uganda today?
Grace: Well, I Think my presence is very strong, can see and notice that. On stage am a great entertainer and I have a presence there. I am also perceived as a responsible individual by my fans as a mother and business woman and all that so my presence is right there and I am still reaching for the skies.

MU: Do you write your own songs?
Grace: I write my own songs but I also do write with a friend of mine called Peter Ntege who’s really a good song writer. He’s co-written all my songs.

MU: What does Grace do in her free time?
Grace: I usually spend time with my Daughter and Husband.

MU: What’s your favorite drink/food?
Grace: My favorite drink is passion juice and my favorite food is Rice Matooke and Peas.

MU: What makes you laugh really hard?
Grace: As in ha ha ha? Well I think that’s jokes.

MU: What’s your shoe size?
Grace: My shoe size is 6 as in 38.

MU: DO you listen to your music all the time or you take time off to listen to other artist’s music as well? Plus which artist have you bee listening to?
Grace: I listen to all sorts but I listen to other music to grow. Like this morning I was listening to Madonna’s like a Virgin. I think it great music there.

MU: Is there anything about Grace that the world might not know about?
Grace: I can’t stand cockroaches (wild laugh).

MU: Are you into any kind of sports?
Grace: Rugby gets my attention.

MU: What do you do before any stage performance?
Grace: I warm up my vocals.

MU: Where do you see grace in the next two years?
Grace: Basically I am going to be a Diva in the region and the world.

MU: As a lady how are you trying to empower fellow ladies in Uganda?
Grace: I bring it as a joke like in my song “Ani akumanyi” but I am trying to tell the ladies to stand up and be strong in all endeavors.

MU: Might you do some collabos in the future?
Grace: Well I think P-Square is good, professor J Am open I will experiment and try to make some good music.

MU: What’s your favorite color?
Grace: My favorite color is Red.

MU: Any message to your fans all over?
Grace: I want to tell them that all they have to do is work hard and do whatever they have to do because nobody will do it for you just to avoid regrets.

Contact Grace on: +256-772-791000