By Kimberly Wallace, HER Magazine
Tobago-born phenom Stephanie Joseph has worked with some of the entertainment industry’s most popular artists and graced the stage at music events such as the Tobago Jazz Festival, where she gave mesmerizing performances. Her smooth vocals and command of genres including gospel, jazz and R&B cement her status as one of Tobago’s finest vocalists.
The 34-year-old singer, who wowed audiences with her performance at the Tobago Festivals Commission Discover Series event, grew up in rural Tobago – more precisely, the quiet and peaceful village of Mount St George.
Coming from a musically talented family, Joseph was drawn to music like a moth to a flame. “Mom, dad, sisters, aunts and uncles all sing. I’ve been singing for as long as I’ve known myself,” she says She.
Joseph began honing her singing skills in church at the age of five. There she and her older sisters sang gospel and blended their harmonies and later performed at events under their stage name “The Joseph Sisters”. But her teenage years brought a period of awakening for Joseph, it was then that she discovered Jamaican reggae artists Sizzla and Richie Spice.
“I think I inherited some of my father’s tastes. Before he came to the church, he was a big fan of Bob Marley and reggae, “says Joseph. She became a solo artist and released her reggae gospel album Rooted and grounded. She also started performing at events, hotels and restaurants.
However, her parents did not take too kindly to her change from gospel to reggae, while her father’s musical preferences changed over the years before finally settling on gospel, Joseph was on a journey of exploration.
In Tobago she felt she had to hide to be herself, so she moved to Trinidad. The move resulted in several opportunities; she did background vocals on Sizzla’s album and performed as a background vocalist for Prophet Benjamin. “Performing with someone like Prophet Benjamin, whom I had sought out, was a humbling and exciting experience. That’s when I realized I was growing as an artist,” she says. Joseph lived in Trinidad for three years where she also began her Rastafarian journey.
“Trinidad is where I started my first transition,” she says. “I started making reggae from a wider perspective because there was no one to stop me or stop me. I was introduced to a new way of thinking through the metaphysical world, which led to a total change in thinking, living and the way I see things.’
Performing in the calypso tents also reintroduced Joseph to some aspects of her culture that she had taken for granted growing up. She began doing research on slavery and what her ancestors endured as a people.
“It opened my eyes to who we are, where we need to be, and how we can stand together,” she says. “Even though we are not physically shackled, some of us are still shackled, but figuratively, and until we learn to break those chains, the cycle will just repeat itself.’
Emancipation Day is one of the most powerful, empowering and impactful opportunities to educate young people about the cause of freedom, she adds.
“It’s a time of celebration, a time for us to embrace ourselves and who we are, it’s a time to live the freedom we talk about,” she says.
While her Rastafarian journey raised her level of consciousness, Joseph is not currently a devotee of Rastafarianism or any other religious faith; instead she preaches a gospel of love through her music whether in the form of reggae, R&B, gospel, jazz or retro. Her music revolves around three pillars, love, unity and truth, her lyrics speak to men, women and children.
Expect much more from this talented, soulful singer. Joseph is working on new music, she will soon be releasing new singles ahead of her second album, but she is also doing her homework in hopes of taking her music to an international audience.