Stephanie Adenyo — From beauty queen to gospel musician

By Rebecca Kwei
TRANSITING from a beauty queen to a gospel musician does not exactly seem to be a predictable trajectory, but Stephanie Adenyo, Miss GIJ 2010, is blazing that trail with a lot of promise.
Stephanie, who was also the first runner-up at the Face of Tertiary 2012 beauty pageant, released her first single, Only He Knows, a few weeks ago and is confident that her gospel music path is inspired by God and is not a contradiction of her past as a beauty queen.
"I am glad I participated in the beauty pageants. People say all sorts of things about beauty queens and people spelt doom for me but I stood my ground and explained to them that I didn't have to be a bad girl to be a beauty queen. I worked hard at carrying myself about in a decent way and I want to believe that, one way or another, I have encouraged other young ladies and fellow pageant participants to do so," she says.
The new gospel songstress graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2011. After clinching the Miss Communicator crown in 2010, she felt that her boundaries of communication had been widened and music was a natural inclination.
But why gospel music?
"There are many aspects of life I could sing about but my choice is to sing about what I know and have experienced. I call myself a baby Christian but I believe that I have found something special, the gospel of Christ, the Christian faith, and I do not think I should wait till I'm old to share it," she explained.
Stephanie says when she was a child she adored Celine Dion so much that even in junior high school she was nicknamed "Second Dion".
Now she is also inspired by the likes of Esther Smith, Cece Winans, Don Moen, Kim Walker and Eugene Zuta.
She recounts how it started from the very beginning but remembers pretty little.
"As a child, my mum says, I was very quiet and I sang when I was alone, hungry, etc," she said.
Today, as a beauty queen, you would bet she is no lonely songstress and over the years quietness has obviously lost its charm to her but her attraction to music has grown stronger.
Stephanie schooled at Joduro International, Akim-Oda, Sakumono SDA, Ebenezer Hills Junior High School (JHS) at Michel Camp and Anlo Secondary School and she reflects on some fond childhood memories.
"Growing up, anytime I went to church or a programme by the roadside, I would ask for the mic," she recalled.
Now, she really does have more maturity and liberty to handle the mic and prays that the years ahead will also be golden years for her music career as she plans to produce more songs and make an impact on the gospel music scene, both locally and internationally.
Her first single, "Only He Knows", is set against the background of some delightful instrumentation. The rhythm is creatively simple and the message is very crisp and direct.
"With this song, I want to say that I trust God with my life to show me the way and take me where I'm destined to be. Sometimes we accept Jesus Christ but we don't give our all to Him. We have doubts and we don't trust fully. This song is a personal declaration that I totally trust God; that God has a perfect will and plan for my life. If I look elsewhere, I am sure I will miss it. I encourage others to learn from the song, build their trust in God and make these declarations for themselves," she explained.
She unveiled the song at her church, Good Shepherd E. P. Students Union (EPSU) meeting on February 4 and released it on social media via Soundcloud, Hulkshare, ReverbNation and Facebook on February 6, 2013.
Stephanie currently sings with and directs her church's youth choir, Evangelical Minstrels. She is also a member of two inter-denominational choirs — WELLS and Shekhinah Praise Choir.
She says she has so far written about 10 songs and "Only He Knows" is one of them. With assistance from her friend and Music Director of WELLS , Johncarl Dunyo, she arranged and completed Only He Knows this January.
“We worked with another friend, Richmond of Ricky Beats, in his studio at Teshie and had the backing vocals done by a member of WELLS, Esinam Ametepe and myself,” she said.
She is currently taking private keyboard lessons and preparing to enrol at Alliance Francaise this April to study French. She is also planning to go for a top-up degree at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Public Relations.
Twenty-two-year-old Stephanie speaks warmly of her dad, Mr Alex Adenyo; her mum, Mrs Juliet Annang, and her siblings, as well as relations and friends, and says they have been of immense support to her.