Jermaine Edwards looking to transform Spanish Town
Published:Friday | March 31, 2017 | 12:00 AMCecelia Campbell -Livingston
Gospel artiste Jermaine Edwards has already made his mark in the musical arena with gospel anthems such as Power in the Name, I Give Up, Don’t Count Me Out, and Heart Like Yours, among many others.
There is, however, one goal he hasn’t yet accomplished, and that’s what’s next on his bucket list. In-between performing locally and internationally, doing live recording, Edwards said he wants to work on transforming the troubled Spanish Town area where he grew up. It’s an area that has been plagued with crime and gang violence for many years and he wants to be a catalyst for change.
“I want to bring some youth from living with guns to living a life of morality, good standing, and everything. That is what the aim is,” he said, adding that he wants to do something extraordinary in transforming the nation.
FATHER-SON TEAM
His father, Bishop Rowan Edwards, is already tackling the tough community with various interventions, so it will be a fight that both father and son could be engaged in together.
Edwards, who will be joining an all-star cast of performers which includes United States gospel singer Travis Green, Papa San, Kevin Downswell, Rondell Positive, and comedian Blakka Ellis, among others, on Easter Monday, April 17, at the National Indoor Sports Centre, is all fired up.
When he takes centre stage, he wants to take more than just his singing to the audience.
“I want them to hear somebody wanting more, wanting a relationship with God, wanting to do the right thing, wanting to please Him in everything I do,” he said, pointing out that he also want to impart hope to his listeners.
Although he has been saved for some time and grew up in a Christian home, Edwards said God was made real to him when he started studying the Bible and realised that most of the things in it – especially Revelation and Daniel – was actually talking about things that will take place or has already happened.
“It makes me now realise that I have to do true music that shares God’s love. Having a personal relationship with God must be real, if someone can prophecy something over 2,000 years ago and it shows now,” he said.
Now a successful artiste, Edwards confessed that music was never his first choice. He actually had dreams of being a mechanic!
“Somehow, being a pastor’s son, working, playing in church, and being around music, music ended up choosing me, I did not choose it,” he shared.
With the impact his musical message has been having on his fans, he said it is all worth it now.
Looking ahead, Edwards said when he thinks about the legacy he is building, there is only one thing he would want to leave, and it is that people will say that their lives were changed because of something he did and for ways he worked at transformation.