<<Print>>

After years of painfully watching on as her colleagues mounted the podium and collected trophies at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMA), Gospel artiste Celestine Donkor had despaired of ever winning anything.

In 2009, she had high expectations but was left very disappointed when she and colleague Philipa Baafi's song Go High failed to win an award including Best Collaboration of the Year and since then she had been measured when it comes to the VGMA.

However, this year, there was a certain buzz around her and some hope that this time turned into reality as she picked up two awards, Best Female Vocal Performance and Gospel Song of the Year with her song Agbebolo (Bread of Life) at the 21st edition of the VGMA held on August 28 and 29 at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre.

Speaking with Graphic Showbiz recently after breaking her VGMA jinx, Celestine said it had been 10-year long wait to win at the most prestigious scheme for players in the music industry.

"It's been exactly 10 years since I got my first nomination and a decade on I'm wininng these awards. I predicted that I would win because I knew I had worked hard and God was going to crown my efforts so I'm not surprised at all.

"I'm very excited about the support given to my brand all these years and I want to assure that there will be more and better works from me," she stated.

Apart from the Gospel Song of the Year, Celestine had also been tipped to win the Gospel Artiste of the Year which Diana Hamilton won but she said she was satisfied with the outcome.

"That is the view of people who think I worked very hard in the year under review and I cannot begrudge them for that. However, I think that every nominee in the category could have won it so I don't have any issue with that," she said.

It has been a long road for Celestine Donkor, who started out as a backing vocalist and has gradually built herself into a strong force in the Gospel music sector. Her current success didn't however come on a silver platter as she disclosed that her management had to restrageise to get her brand to where it is now.

The year 2020 has definitely been good to Celestine who also grabbed the Best Gospel Artiste at both the National Gospel Music Awards and 3Music Awards held earlier in the year.