Diamond did all sort of menial jobs before he became a full-fledged musician. The Tanzanian crooner opened up about his journey to the top during an interview with Maina Kageni.
The father of three reveals that his first stab at being a musician was a total failure as the song was completely a joke. He recorded the song with money he got from chama contributions.
The second time Diamond recorded a song was with money he got from selling his mother’s gold ring. Diamond says he told his mother that he lost the ring when he had sold it for Tsh 60,000.
He further narrates that he got a sponsor who offered to pay for his recordings. The sponsor unfortunately got broke and left Diamond hanging.
He resorted to being a photographer before he started working at a factory that manufactures bags. Diamond says that the same factory later on employed him to distribute toilet papers, he however quit the job due to poor pay.
Diamond goes on to reveal that he gave up on life, he had a feeling that his mother thought he was a failure. He took up a job as a mtumba seller working at a friend’s shop.
The breakthrough
Baba Tiffah says his fate changed when he met Bob Junior (Bongo singer) who gave him an offer to record another song while he was still selling mtumba. He divulges that he recorded his first hit ‘Nenda Kamwambia’ out of real life experience.
Diamond explains he was inspired to write the song after his girlfriend dumped him because he was broke. The song went on to be the breakthrough in Diamond’s music career.
Listen to the interview Diamond had with Maina Kageni at Classic FM below:
