[Artiste BIOGRAPHY]:- Gabi DeFeel

Artiste Biography:- Gabi DeFeel   

Personality/Brand Connection

Perusing through the African entertainment space for a hot shortlist of female artistes for the closest alternative performer to America’s hip hop Foxy Brown, pointing at highlight traits and fashion confidence, Ghana’s heavily talented multi-genre Gabi DeFeel will most likely get the most ticks. Though not a full-run rapper package, Gabi exhibits major Foxy-esque characteristics topped with her unique attention-grabbing stage skills set.

Birth History

Gabi DeFeel, as popularly called in showbiz circles, was born to Mr and Mrs Addei  on 11th February . She was christened Gabriella Bernice Addei. According to close family links, her dad named her Gabriella in connection to Archangel Gabriel due to his great honour to the Angel. He got so much special love for little baby Gabi that he treated her like a goddess all his life.

Childhood Fascination With Music Kits

Kid Gabi was the type that could easily be stolen away by strangers or who else with just any little musical bait, even if it was a one inch piece of a dusty string that was torn off an antique guitar. At that tender age her gravitation towards gadgets and instruments used for musical purposes was just a least sight away – the very moment she saw them nothing else merited her attention. Even while the other little girl neighbours  were busy  playing with toy kitchen utensils or Barbie dolls and accessories, Gabi was found equally busy fiddling dad’s broken gramophone --- this was a key hobby sign that Gabi was born with a singing gift and her exhibiting it happened very early as she was often caught botching memorized songs that her mind has captured from the radio set and tape plays.

She shares a strong childhood memory of her always attempting to use the microphone and keyboard, picturing herself as a performing artiste on stage, but she would quickly resist the tendency if people were around --- because she was then a nervous shy girl and didn’t want anyone to see her practicing singing.

Prime Influence

You get an international mix of several greats and influential senior contemporaries when listing down the established stars from whom Gabi draws a core inspiration. She opens up mentioning Beyonce, Pink, Brenda Fassy, Lady Saw, Queen Ifrica, Michael Jackson, Lucky Dube, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Stonebwoy, Stephanie Benson, Ayigbe Edem, Kakie, Itz Tiffany and Wiyala Noella. Her mentions are not limited to this prime list, Gabi tops it with a secondary list of a few other equally inspiring stars who also influence her artistry greatly.

Multi-Genre Excellence

It’s hard for entertainment pundits to classify Gabi Defeel in a single genre lane, as she shows easy excellence at almost every genre she steps into--- but she does more Afrobeats and dancehall. Sometimes she jumps to Hi-Life [the foundation genre in Ghana], francophone music and any other genre she feels like channeling a particular song to. Gabi is a general musician/artiste and her multi-genre mastery gives her brand a great commercial value.

Career Leap-Off

It was just a mere constant practice of favourite songs at leisure or at some spontaneous moments when the feeling to sing hit her, Gabi never thought of commercializing her music talent or hobby [so to say] until 2014 when she finally decided to take music as a serious profession and she then started honing her craft to gain mastery over it.

According to her, she used to daydream of herself performing on stage to a large cheering audience in her childhood days, so she meant to live that dream by practicing popular and rare dance moves in front of the family’s dressing mirror. At that very young age, Gabi wasn’t particularly inclined to the secular or gospel set, she was taking strides across both sets, as she was working hard with just any song based on her mood and what she could sing along. She wouldn’t let the house see her practice, all that hardwork stayed within tightly closed doors due to her shyness and nervousness.

Lead Shot In The Child Church Choir

Around age 9, a singing group leader called Brother Abee closely recognized Gabi’s good singing skills and planned for her big way up.  Brother Abee always found Gabi humming songs when playing around with other kids and he figured it out that she could do better, so he enrolled Gabi in his child church choir called Everlasting Peace Action Singers. Practising professional lessons under Abee’s watch gave little shy Gabi the motivation to build her stage confidence; it thus erased her shyness and nervousness. 

A few weeks later after Gabi’s choir enrolment, she earned the lead singing position at church. Same time that period, Gabi was picked to do choreography performances at school.

Flirting With Music

Having fully realized that she could sing better like a pro and wanting to take music serious during her tertiary school days, Gabi became super eager to perform her very own songs but she then hasn’t recorded even a single single yet, but deep down her spirit she had the strong feeling that music was flirting with her.  She personified music, referring to it as him in multiple testimonies when she said “I feel him when I’m on stage, that each moment I’m performing I get excited and satisfied”. During this supernatural experience, Gabi was just doing music for fun, not as a profession.

Reunion With Pryst

After her tertiary education something nearly traumatic hit Gabi hard. She was torn so bad she needed a good friend to help her mend her construct pieces.  She one day met an old friend she hasn’t seen around in years. That was Pryst.

Pryst is a musician. He writes, composes and directs music like easy. Gabi meeting him again was the beginning of her professional musical career and brand building. It was Pryst that conceptualized the whole Gabi brand and took Gabi to the studio to start recording her very first ever. Had it not been Pryst, Gabi wouldn’t have started a professional musical career. It was his motivation, pep-talks and direction that moved Gabi on to commercialize her profitable hobby. God sent Pryst my path to elevate me out of traumas, Gabi testified.

Pryst’s "Combination Of Mary And Jezebel" Tag

Gabi’s usual calm state when not on stage and her acting so strange like an alien from another realm when performing on stage was a big social challenge to her. It made a lot of people conclude that she is highly possessed with two opposite spirits that take duty turns in her. It was more rumoured that Gabi is an angel inside and a monster outside. This mass conclusion and personality-tearing rumour broke Gabi down badly, but Pryst took Gabi through a series of healing self-acceptance theories and practical psychological routines that eventually caused Gabi to completely accept her angel-monster nature as God’s divine plan for her. Pryst thus tagged Gabi "The Combination Of Mary And Jezebel"  --- a true life tag that is still identifiable with Gabi today. She’s a cool angel outside the music industry, but her brand taste takes a seduction turn when it comes to real world business, it’s something that also relates to Beyonce, Jay Z’s wife [referencing Shasta Fierce here].

Support And Label Signing

As an indie, Gabi worked her way through on the support of some well-wishers and sponsors like Chereza Ghana LTD, Duke plus company LTD, Addei Family, High Priest, Skubi Ezer, Yaw Asante, Zaharawu Salifu, EGold, Paradise One Family Entertainment, DJ Gbagbo, Togbe of Wilcado Hotel, Major Azada of Suncity Hotel, Madam Agnes of Fortune Travel and Tours, DJ Debow and Prsyt. 

Along the line Gabi got signed by Watsap Empire which is working in collaboration with BBF Gaza Movement which is owned by Moses Henyo DziDzinyo alias Fishbone. 

Maiden Official Single

Gabi’s very first release was “U bad” which features Yaa Pono. It was released in 2015.

Concert Log

Gabi Miss Tourism Ghana [2015/2016], MTN Soccer Academy grand finale [2015], Ayegbe Edem Book And Rhyme tour [2016], Stonebwoy’s Mama Concert [2016], Face of High School Ghana Awards night [2016], American Embassy night, Woodin Runway Night [2015], 4site Tv Night at Avakpedome [2015], and also at MzVee’s concert [2016].

Discography

Currently, Gabi has one album to her credit. That’s the “Nkosuo” album which consists songs are 1. Eye Woa 2. Metanfo 3. Tundra 4. Lock it 5. ServeAnd Protect 6. You Bad [Featuring Yaa Pono] 7. BBF {Bibia Beye Fine] 8.Kweku