For many people, Spyro’s story begins with the songs that made him a household name. But behind the confidence, the music, the luxury and the faith he now speaks about openly is a much longer story. It began with a boy who struggled to see himself as someone who would amount to much.
In a recent conversation on Black Box podcast, the singer opened up about parts of his life he does not often discuss publicly. He spoke about growing up in a pastor’s home, experiencing poverty, struggling with his sense of worth, finding his identity in Christ, navigating love and relationships, almost giving up on music and eventually finding the breakthrough that changed his life.
And while success has changed his circumstances, Spyro made it clear that some parts of his past are still part of the person he is becoming.
The Boy Who Felt Like A Failure
Spyro grew up in a family of five. His father was a pastor while his mother was a minister, and the family experienced both middle-class comfort and periods when money was extremely tight.
There were times his parents struggled to pay his school fees. His father would negotiate with the school to pay in instalments, while his mother found ways to make things work at home.He remembered meals that were sometimes little more than watery stew made with ground pepper and seasoning. But poverty was not the only thing that shaped his childhood.
When asked about the things he feared while growing up, Spyro spoke about the effect some of his father’s words had on the way he saw himself.
“When I think of myself, I think of myself to be a failure already back then.”
He said those experiences followed him into his teenage years and even university.
“Because of this fear… from some of the things that my dad would say and the words that he would use, I kind of felt useless.”
Spyro also described himself as feeling like “the black sheep of the family”. That feeling of inadequacy, he said, became a fear of the unknown. He wondered whether he would even graduate from school and carried that anxiety with him for years. He also spoke about the pressure that can come with growing up as a pastor’s child, particularly the expectation to conform to a certain lifestyle.
Spyro was careful not to present his father simply as a villain. When the host suggested that his father may have passed on some of his own struggles without realising the effect they would have on his son, Spyro agreed.
“If he knew better, he would have done better.”
Then he added:
“How do you teach what you don’t know?”
That perspective is important to Spyro because, although he says there are things from his childhood he is still trying to work through, he does not speak as though he believes his father deliberately set out to hurt him. He said he has healed from many things, but there is still work to do when it comes to his relationship with his father.
One reason, he explained, is that whenever he tries to revisit some of those childhood experiences, his father sometimes responds as though he does not remember them. For Spyro, however, some of the memories remain very clear.
Among the memories he shared was his account of being severely beaten as a child. Spyro said the beatings were so severe that he still has marks on his back more than two decades later. He also recalled being accused by his father whenever money went missing from the church.
According to Spyro, when the money was eventually found, his father would sometimes buy him milk. It was a gesture Spyro remembered, but one that could not erase how he felt about what had happened.
“What was milk supposed to do to the damage that has been done?”
Another childhood memory involved a school cleaner. Spyro said that while he was in primary school, the woman allegedly scratched or peeled the skin on his head with a long nail. He went home and told his father what had happened. But he said his father did not believe him. When they returned to the school, Spyro became afraid and pulled back because, as a child, he could not bring himself to confront an adult. His father interpreted that reaction differently. Spyro said he was then beaten again. Looking back at the experience, he said:
“I told this man the truth and I suffered for telling him the truth.”
He added:
“That broke me and almost turned me into something else.”
The Mother Who Helped Him Find His Way Back
Spyro believes things could have turned out differently if not for his mother’s love. He recalled getting to a point where he began thinking:
“Since you already believe that I’m a terrible child, let me now just be terrible.”
He said that mindset began affecting his behaviour in school. But his mother’s presence helped balance what he was experiencing.
“If not for my mother’s love and her balancing things, I don’t know…”
His relationship with his mother has remained one of the strongest parts of his story. Even during his hardest years as a musician, she was one of the people he wanted his success to benefit. That became particularly important when he was struggling financially and wondering whether his music career would ever work.
Learning To See Himself Differently
The turning point in Spyro’s understanding of himself did not come from fame, but through his faith. After university, around nine or ten years ago, he said he became more intentional about his relationship with God and joined Harvesters.
There, he began to understand his identity differently. One of the ideas that stayed with him was: “I am what God says I am.” That belief gradually began to challenge the version of himself he had carried since childhood. But even as his career grew, the old fear did not immediately disappear.
Spyro admitted that he was often afraid of returning to the poverty he had experienced growing up. Even after becoming successful, he found it difficult to simply relax and enjoy what he had achieved.
His partner once encouraged him to enjoy his career, but Spyro said the fear of losing everything could be difficult to silence.
How Childhood Insecurity Followed Him Into Love
The impact of those experiences also reached into his relationships. Spyro said he liked girls growing up but often could not approach them because of how he viewed himself.
“Who are you? You are nothing.”
He described having an inferiority complex and said he became careful and picky about relationships. Even when he began his music career, he often relied on Kunle (also K), his partner to speak for him in rooms and handle certain interactions while he concentrated on making music.
But eventually, his partner (K) moved to Abuja, leaving Spyro to find his own voice outside the studio.
“I had to pick myself up.”
For Spyro, finding confidence was part of the same journey as finding his identity.
Finding Love In An Unexpected Place
Spyro said he was not simply looking for a beautiful woman. He wanted someone whose presence brought peace.
“The world already has enough chaos. I want someone that can match me and bring peace to the home.”
He described himself as a “lover boy” and said he had experienced his share of heartbreak. Then, unexpectedly, he met the woman he is currently with while he was out promoting his music at a club. He noticed her during more than one visit before eventually approaching her. They became friends, and with time, he began to wonder whether she might be the person he had been looking for. In his words:
“I found love in an unexpected place, you know. I had gone for one promo to a club, you know, and it wasn’t the first because it was a promo run. So, usually every Friday we just go to places to plug the songs and just stay there for a couple of hours and then we move. And then I met her there the first time, the second time, the third time, and my eyes kept just going to, you know, who is this person? Like I mean, I kind of feel like it was this… I didn’t know what it was, but my mind just drew me, you know, go meet this person. And then one day I’m like, you know, I can’t take it any longer, and then we started a conversation. and we became friends and it was just about friendship and then one day I just… my eyes just open. I’m like ah what I’ve been looking for. I think this is it you know because there was just so much peace.”
What stood out to him was not only her appearance but how he felt around her. Spyro said positive things also began happening around the period they met, which strengthened his belief that the relationship had come into his life at the right time.
His approach to love is closely tied to his faith. He said he is intentional about what he allows himself to think because he believes thoughts can become reality. He continued:
“ I could feel peace in my spirit, you know it wasn’t just about the the … she’s beautiful fine but you know it was more of the peace for me that she comes with and you know the the fact that I realized that things started moving positively for me also around the time that I met her you know some major things started happening in my life and I’m just like I think this is it you know so what’s the point of just you know playing around.”
Why Faith Became Part Of His Music
Spyro’s spirituality did not begin after fame. Music itself started early. He grew up around music, with his mother also having a musical background as a chorister. He listened to Nigerian and international music and was exposed to different sounds while growing up in Mushin. He began singing in church and eventually started thinking seriously about music as a career. But his father was initially against it.
Spyro said his father had discouraged him from drawing when he was younger and later viewed his interest in music and guitar as another thing that might not lead anywhere. Rather than stop, Spyro got a job, saved money and began paying for studio sessions himself. He said:
“So, when I started the music thing, he wasn’t having it, you know. Because I could draw properly before, he took that away from me. And now I’m starting to do music. One day I picked my guitar up and I was playing and he came and he was talking and I’m like you took this other one from me. this one is going nowhere. And he got furious.
When my mom came, he told her. I had made up my mind that nothing is going to take this away from me, you know. So, he was really worried. But I mean, you just had to deal with it because they could see that I started saving up. In fact, I got a job to take care of myself and also pay for studio sessions and I was really determined to do music, but not to do it the way that every other person does music.“
His vision was also different from what he felt was common in the music industry. He said he wanted to make music that was clean, successful and openly connected to his faith. At the time, he said he did not see many artists openly professing Christ while also operating successfully in secular music.
One person he admired was the late Sound Sultan. Spyro said that although Sound Sultan was Muslim, he admired the discipline and decency he associated with him. He wanted to become a similar kind of example of someone who could show young people that they could make music, succeed and still hold on to their values.
From Walking To Radio Stations To Almost Giving Up
Spyro’s music journey began long before “Who Is Your Guy?” changed everything. His first studio experience was in 2008. During the early Bluetooth era, he would put his songs on CDs and take them around radio stations, sometimes walking to places such as Uni FM. He remembered one occasion when he was quoted about N7,000 or N7,500 for airplay. He had been wearing a fake chain at the time and when he realised he could not afford the fee, he removed the chain and asked for help instead.
University of Ibadan eventually became an important platform for him. He performed regularly and became one of the leading artists on campus, making significant money from shows. At one point, he said he made in one night what his mother was earning as a civil servant.
In 2013, he met Sound Sultan after travelling from UI to Festac to see him. That meeting opened doors and gave him exposure to people in the industry. There were label conversations and introductions, including to Banky W and Captain Demuren, but the opportunities did not immediately turn into the breakthrough he needed. Then came the difficult years.
Around 2017, Spyro and K took a bank loan running into millions of Naira to fund their music. Spyro said they also borrowed money from a female friend. They recorded songs, invested in promotion and kept trying. One of those efforts involved a song with Davido. Spyro said Davido reached out about a remix, but because his label did not fully see the opportunity, he and Kunle decided to fund the remix themselves. The financial pressure continued. Even after “Billing” became a major song, Spyro said it did not give them the breakthrough they were looking for and eventually, he became tired.
At one point, Spyro said he was struggling to pay rent and sometimes had to stay with friends. He was collecting small amounts of money from people simply to get by and was also supporting his parents.
He had dispatch bikes, was doing interior design and was close to leaving music altogether when people suggested spiritual solutions, including taking him to a “baba”.
Instead, Spyro said he chose to go deeper into his faith. He began attending church early in the morning, sometimes arriving around 6:30am to pray. One of his prayers was particularly personal. He said if God would not bless him for himself, then God should bless him for his mother and family. A pastor also encouraged him to picture his testimony every morning.
Spyro began visualising the kind of life he wanted, like big stages, cars and success, even when there was less than N10,000 in his bank account. At one point, he and a friend even went car shopping and asked about prices they could not afford. It was an exercise in faith, and within about three months, everything began to change.
“Who Is Your Guy?” Arrived When He Was Ready To Quit
Spyro had recorded “Who Is Your Guy?” during the COVID period. It was initially conceived as a love song, but he broadened the meaning so that “your guy” could also refer to a mother, partner or anyone important in a person’s life. Ironically, the song that would transform his career came at a time when he was barely interested in music anymore. The recording itself was not a grand production.
Spyro described the session as “sharp sharp” and said he recorded his part in essentially one take. He was already doing dispatch and interior design when the song began gaining attention. Captain Demuren had even given him an interior furnishing job and then the song started moving.
Craze Clown heard it and began posting and playing it organically. Spyro wondered why he was promoting the song when he had not paid him to do so. Shortly after, the song climbed the charts, then it reached number one. For Spyro, there was no complicated explanation for what had happened. He saw it as grace. He had already made a promise to God that if the breakthrough came, he would not stop talking about God. And that promise became part of the identity people would come to associate with him.
Success Created A New Fear
The breakthrough changed almost everything. The man who had struggled to pay rent was suddenly receiving show offers, property opportunities, cars and the attention that came with fame, but success did not immediately erase his fear. Instead, it gave the fear a new shape. He became afraid of going back to where he came from.
Spyro said that when his first serious money came, he chose to invest in property instead of spending heavily on designer clothes or drinks. His mother also became one of the biggest beneficiaries of his success. He gave her money and eventually bought her a house. She initially called him, worried that something had happened, before visiting the property herself.
Spyro remembered that she had once told him that two prophets had said he would become a “star boy”.At the time, however, nothing about his circumstances suggested that such a future was close. Looking back now, Spyro said prophecy did not mean there would be no suffering. Instead, he believes the difficult years were part of the process that built him.
The Father-Son Relationship After Success
Success has also changed the way Spyro relates to his father. He said their relationship is now “pretty chilled”, although their conversations are still not very deep. There are still things Spyro would like to address. He believes healing should involve both of them, and he has expressed the hope that his father can also understand where some of his own actions came from.
For Spyro, forgiveness does not necessarily mean pretending the past did not happen. He can acknowledge what he experienced while still wishing that things had been different.
When asked what the six- or seven-year-old Spyro would say to his father if given the opportunity, his answer was strikingly simple:
“Just love. Just love me.”
Conclusion
The Spyro who emerged after “Who Is Your Guy?” became known for catchy songs, fashion, romance and his open Christian identity. But he says that version of him is changing.
At the end of the interview, he spoke about his new direction and his recent song, “God Design”, featuring Janet. He wants to put more “art” into everything he does and says he is no longer the same person people first encountered through “Billing” and “Who Is Your Guy?”
He described himself as a businessman, a lover boy, a family-oriented person and someone increasingly focused on impact.
