‘I am currently living my dream music wise’ – TopCheri
Walvis Bay gifted Namibia two top music bands in the form of Children from Pluto and Deadwood before independence – now the harbour town is basking in the success of another musician, Monica Pineas, known as TopCheri.
The Kuisebmond-born songstress has carved a very successful music career for herself.
“Unlike some people, I don’t come from a family of musicians. In fact, a music career was the last thing on my mind when I came to Windhoek looking for greener pastures like many other young people are doing today,” TopCheri told The Weekender.
“I only started music eight years ago. I was first a full-time entertainment journalist with The Villager. My break came after Dion of the kwaito trio PDK heard me singing on the set of the comedy movie ‘Captain Kalola’. I was playing the leading female role opposite Tate Buti.”
TopCheri, who used to sing in the Hosiana Evangelical Lutheran Church Youth Choir, says Dion invited her to the studio – and the rest is history as he went on to record her first single ‘Victoria’ which received resounding reviews from the public.
Her first album, ‘The Matrimony’, was released seven years ago, while the fourth ‘Tithe’ was dropped in 2022, and the popular singer is currently in the studio working on a new song.
TopCheri, real name Monica Pineas
“There is absolutely no rest in this industry and one can’t rest on your laurels because the other artists are also bringing out new stuff. I am recording with different producers, but Andrew on the Beat is still my resident producer.
“Right now I just spend most of my time in the studio recording new music. My recent single ‘They Wanna Do’ was released three weeks ago and I must say that it appealed very well to the public. Now we are busy working on my next offering ‘Angelina’,” she says.
In between her recordings, TopCheri, who seems to be the go-to artist for corporate gigs, mentions late South African superstar Brenda Fassie and Namibia’s award-winning queen of the stage Lady May as the two singers that inspired her to become a singer.
“However,” she says, “my music idol was kwaito master The Dogg. I was so into his music that I was even called Monica Morocky in the streets of Kuisebmond. Like The Dogg, I love to express my life’s journey, which was also full of setbacks in my music.
“My family does not believe in fairytales and stuff like dreams coming true. We only believed that if you have to appear on TV you have to be connected or you have to know someone to be in the music industry.”
She says she is proud to have proven to her family and friends back home that anything in life is possible if you work hard.
“I am not only releasing music today, but I am also in my music videos and my videos are on YouTube. Most excitingly, my videos are also aired on the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, and my family and friends can proudly tell people that I am their very own,” she says.
“Making music is not the only project that takes up all my energy. Thanks to the tremendous support from corporate Namibia I still host my TopCheri Kiddies Concert which has become very popular among the youth. This year’s event is once again slated for November.”
The annual event provides a platform for children to showcase their talent. They host the event, have their own stalls to sell their goodies, sing, dance and do gymnastics.
The Afro-pop star is also a partner in Plug A Creative, an online marketing agency that does marketing for different companies.
TopCheri remembers her shows in Zambia and Germany. In the midst of all those shows, TopCheri was also invited by Namibian fellows in the United States to perform a live show in Louisville.
The Namibian singer is calling upon Namibian foreign missions in the diaspora to help Namibian artists grow by inviting them over to network with artists from those countries.
The post ‘I am currently living my dream music wise’ – TopCheri appeared first on The Namibian.
