KAMPALA – Sensational singer Grace Nakimera has opened up on the major challenges she faced as a woman while trying to make it big in the music industry, noting that sexual advances were top on the list.
Nakimera who was appearing on a local TV station on women’s day was sharing some of the problems faced by women in the entertainment industry as they try to break through the very competitive sector.
Nakimera noted that in the times she came to the musical scene, sexual advances were an everyday thing in the struggle to make it in the industry.
According to the ‘Anfukuula’ singer who is now a gospel artist, some male music stakeholders demanded sexual favors before playing their music, as the industry was male-dominated back then and that was her biggest challenge while starting out in the music industry.
“We used to walk around with CDs since there were no flash disks at the time, but every time I would give in my music, they would expect something in return. They didn’t even listen to the song first… all they said was that they don’t just play it for free,” she said.
She further explained that many women fell for it but to her, she refused and never gave in to the sexual advances but the Deejays eventually ended up playing her songs because she had good music.
Grace Nakimera rose to fame in 2005 with her hit single dubbed ‘Anfukuula’. At the time, the music industry did not have social media and internet platforms, something that hampered the promotion of music.