VIDEO: Mark Asari performs “Walking Away” in Round 3 of Blind Auditions, The Voice UK 2018

“The amount of filmed interviews I’ve done this year alone is the most I’ve done in my whole 20 something years of living lol I was the master of avoiding it. Getting better at it tho #StammerStruggles.” This was a post made on Twitter by Mark Asari a UK born Ghanaian recording artist who subjugated thousands with his unpredictable performance at #TheVoiceUK audition. Though he is a stammer, he stroke my interest to share his wonderful story with you. I feel he is too talented to go unnoticed.

Our fears are not meant to stop us, they are there to heighten our awareness, and to help us succeed through difficult challenges. With that been said, Mark has had a career spanning over 10 years. Sounds a like a long time but you don’t actually notice it when you enjoy what you’re doing. Performing ‘Walking Away’ in round three of Blind Auditions on ‘The Voice UK 2018’ brought his talent to attention.

Born to Ghanaian parents, he describes himself as a young, driven, humble individual who has a huge passion for music. He took an active interest in music at a very young age, yet he is one of the few acts who took his education very serious. He went to a school in London called Cardinal Pole, and then furthered to City & Islington where he studied and majored in music technology, media studies and graphic design. His love for singing took a bound and determined turn upon discovering his powerful singing potential at the early stages of his life back in primary school. He had a sense of fulfilment from that moment on. Since then, living true to the highest purpose became his ultimate aim. He would sing in the playground whereby the kind of reactions married with attention awoke the giant in him, letting him know he had a little something (gift). And people especially girls would always get him to sing.

Recognizing and embracing his God given gift even though he is a stammer, he has managed to cope very well with friends/colleagues and to be honest he didn’t really talk much so not a lot of people knew about his stammering situation apart from his close friends. Other people just thought he was shy, lay back and quiet fine young man. Because he channelled and banked all his thought into his craft, he ended up adding value to his passion. He became a young icon with all the hype and buzz around him, so therefore they looked past him been a stammer and appreciated him for who is is.

His dad was and is still more supportive, always encouraging him to step up his A game and settle for the best. Whereas his mother didn’t see music as a real job and gave him a hard time growing up, which he perfectly understands: education is important. He did a lot of his music stuffs without them knowing. Though they didn’t really know or understand what he was getting up to most of the time, he managed to give them reasons to believe he was born to do music because he just always found singing easier than talking.

He revealed to Beenieword.com that there’s no secret to his spellbinding voice aside from God and most importantly also practicing, constantly working and perfecting his craft. His greatest inspiration relating to music is the idea of being great. Being able to connect with people making them feel all kinds of emotions and bringing the world together through music has and will at all times remain his second life. Believing in God and himself has constantly kept him in shape and strong as an artist. He believes that every situation he has been through was to make him stronger, better and to prepare him for what’s to come. Sundry will be speculating how he got onto the Voice of UK 2018 audition. Well to clear your doubts, his agent who also works on the show, scouted him. To him, it was an astonishing feeling, very surreal to win the hearts of thousands of watchers with his heart melting and belter singing aptitude including all the judges. His performance explored the thoughts of the judges because they didn’t know what to expect until he unleashed the hidden giant in him. In answer to his long time prayers to God, Black Eye Pea immediately swore to be his personal voice coach. He was very happy because he well-regarded him from a distance and was looking forward in working with him.

Some of the insensitive challenges he encountered is feeling like you’ve put a lot of work in something and it going unnoticed. Broken promises from people in the industry, being an independent artist and not having enough money to really showcase yourself how you want to. These are some of the things. But the older he gets the more he appreciates these challenges. He built a solid character on these wounding trials which gave him tougher skin, sense of belonging & blue sky thinking mind-set. According to him, it feels awesome to be seen as an inspiration, by virtue of never really intending to be. Fortunately and unfortunately he can’t deny the fact that he loves how it’s given him a sense of purpose.

His advice to everyone particularly the youth who are still struggling to find their purpose in life is, they should find out what it is that they truly enjoy and what makes them happy when no one is looking. That’s usually who you are he thinks. Talking of upcoming projects, Mark cannot live a day without been in the studio, he is always working on new music, but really taking his time as he wants to make great, timeless music. For now look out for heavy trackers feat himself and Big Narstie as well as other features coming out soon. The world should expect the unexpected from him. I think he showed himself as a clinquant ambassador for stammering, demonstrating how it can (and should) be carried off with attitude + confidence. Now fingers crossed that he bags that vocal crown!!!

Get interactive with him on all social media networks:

Facebook: Mark Asari

Instagram: MarkAsari

Twitter: Mark Asari

(Story By: John Claude Tamakloe)