C.K Morgan
German R&B artiste of Ghanaian descent, CK Morgan, born Frank Morgan, has opened up on his music career and talked about his working relationship with American rap queen, Lil Kim, born Kimberly Denise Jones.
CK told NEWS-ONE’s Francis Addo that he has a crush on award-winning Ghanaian actress, Martha Ankomah. CK opined that songstress Eazzy’s career is not flourishing as expected and spoke about his upcoming album, charity and other range of issues in Ghana’s music industry.
Below is the full interview with CK Morgan:
How and when did CK Morgan decide to become a musician?
At the age of 14, I used to be part of youth meetings every Friday at church in London (Life Chapel) and the girls that were sitting next behind me kept telling the teacher that I can sing. So the teacher asked me to sing and I was very shy at first but after I hit that note, everyone started screaming and shouting.
After I finished school and college, I decided to go back to Germany to record some music and luckily I met this producer who works with Sony Music Entertainment and I recorded my first song ‘Shadow’ and ‘Ladies In The Club’.
How would you describe your music and what inspires it?
My music is strictly R&B and when I say R&B, I mean real R&B music like those from the 90s. What inspires it is just the desire to make something special and being inspired by special music that I heard before. People like Marvin Gaye, Jeff Buckley, Stevie Wonder, Nina Sinmone; I mean people that I have looked up to for years. They inspire me because they let me know what greatness sounds like and Iam inspired by to that anytime I am making a record.
Why should someone who has never heard of you take an interest in your music?
I would say the voice. I have this unique voice that you have never heard before. A lot of the girls say that I have a very soft baby voice for a male and a beautiful voice to say. So if you tune in once you are going to stay and fall in love with my voice… (Laughs)… Ladies!
You have always talked about your upcoming album. Why the delay or are you nervous to put it out?
No, I’m not nervous. I just wanted to be a bit more creative and get my sound together. A lot of times I would record songs in a day and just waste thousands of dollars on songs which wasn’t that good or which didn’t even make the cut, but now I can say I got my sound is on ‘fleek.’ I got the right producers around me and, of course, the right people, that’s very important because at the process of making an album you always need good people around you that will inspire you to do better not to waste money. If you listen to songs like ‘Facebook Love’, ‘Making Love Tonight’, and ‘Touch Your Body’ …then you know what to expect on my album, nothing but fire. I promise ‘A King’s Inferno’ the debut album will be out 2018,but for now I just dropped a free EP on my website ‘Love Session’ www.ckmorgandaflyboy.org it has like six songs on the EP, a little something to keep people going .
Take us through your line up of activities for 2017.
I’m shooting a lot of videos that I’ll be dropping on TV soon and I just finished a remix of my song ‘Shake It Down’ ft Mzbel. A lot of people kept tweeting me that they want a remix because ‘Shake It Down’ did actually well. Out of all my songs on iTunes, ‘Shake It Down’ was the most streamed song. It was streamed 545K times and sold about 35K which was very shocking to me. I’ll be doing the ‘Flyboy’ promo tour this summer and I’ll be dropping some new songs with a video this year. I’m just going to be dropping singles and videos to keep the brand going and for people to enjoy and you never know you might see CK in a one or two movies.
How did you get a feature with Lil Kim?
Well, a friend of mine from the States who is also in the showbiz as a PA/publicist to some celebrities and connected to some of celebrities in the US hooked me up because she knew Lil Kim’s brother. I always said to her I wanted to do a song with Kim so bad and when she told me, she’s friends with Kim’s brother and she could probably sort something out for me, I thought she was just pulling my legs, but all the wait was worth it and the rest was history.
How was it like working with her?
Well, I am not going to lie; I wasn’t in the studio with her. I mean who goes to studio nowadays anyways? That was way back in the 90s, but I would have loved that. That would have been an epic moment, but, however, the song/file was sent out and I did my version in Germany and she did hers in the States. All I can say is that the record is fire and can’t wait to shoot the video.
Are you likely to get her on tour one day?
Hell yeah ….I mean Lil Kim’ is currently working on her album and so many other things and she’s about to show these people why they call her ‘Lil Kim The Queen Bee’ and I can’t wait for Lil Kim to be back in the scenes again. Lil Kim is the definition of real hip-hop music, so if I start my American tour, etc, I would definitely invite her if she won’t be busy at that time. I mean that would be epic.
Tell us about who CK Morgan is?
CK Morgan is a very loyal loving person and very humble and caring too. I’m very approachable. I never act like I’m better or higher than anybody. I mean we are all human beings and everybody should be treated just like one. I always say this never judge a book by its cover. I was actually born in Germany and grew up in Hanover and kind of lived my life or shall say most of my life in London too.
Married? You have a crush on any person in showbiz?
(Laughs) No, I’m not married. I’m only 23 and I’m still way too young for that, but I remember telling beautiful actress Bibi Bright that I have a huge crush on actress Martha Ankomah and I remember she started giggling and kicking and said CK you play too much. But I love Martha Ankomah because there is just something special about her. I mean she’s just the type of woman any man will go crazy for and she’s God-fearing too; I love that. But hey, I’m focused on my music right now. I will let her know when I see her.
 I have not heard you doing any charity work.
True, but that’s something I want to do this year. I get so sad sometimes when I see people in the streets with no money and no food, barely any clothes on too. Recently, I saw two kids who are between the ages of five and six who live across our house and they didn’t even know what 1+1 was and neither could they speak English because their mum didn’t have enough money to take them to school. It got me so upset because education is the key to success and now that we have Nana Addo as our president, I know by the grace of God there will be a lot of changes. However, my goal this year is to visit kids in school and give out text books and pencils and, of course, to donate stuffs to the orphanage too, etc.
Which will you consider the best way for a career artiste: should the artistes struggle to build their own careers or get signed to an organisation? Why?
Hmmm struggle! If you look at Lynx Entertainment, they are so on point, shout out to Mzvee. She’s dope. I mean, some artistes just don’t like to listen to labels nowadays. I mean no shade; I love Eazzy to death but they had Eazzy in there too and she was popping at the time like crazy. However, it seems like as soon as she left Lynx, you could tell her career wasn’t really going where she wanted it to be. It’s just the same way with OJ Blaq. I mean my advice to any artiste whether independent or signed to a major record label, be focused, work harder and try and be humble as possible. If the label tells you, you should go this direction with your music just listen because they are longer in this business. They know exactly which way to go with you. If you are independent and you are kind of struggling, I would say fire your team around you. I mean you really need a good team around you who can be as honest as possible. I mean a team that will motivate you to do better and not to lie to you and say its dope.
Is CK controversial?
Something like that, I would say so. It seems a lot of people got something to say about CK whether it’s true or not. But I guess that’s what comes in being a public figure. You just have to get used to it and move on.
How important is image to you?
Is just as important as the music you create and perform. I see many Ghanaian artistes spending very little time on their image, which should be part of their overall ‘package’. And don’t think by getting an engineer or a producer to fleek ‘autotune’ on your voice is going to make you a star or be remembered because that’s not an image. If you want to be a successful artiste, you need to look and act the part. If you expect the public to buy your records and merchandise, buy the magazines you’re featured in, pay to see you perform, etc.; you need to stand out, to look like a ‘star’. Be different. Create a unique image you will be known and remembered for. So that’s something that’s very important to me. Be the originator of your own work.
What personal advice would you give to someone wanting to pursue this career?
Put God first, that’s number one. Be humble and embrace yourself and never let anybody tell you, you can’t do this. If God has given you a beautiful talent, use it, don’t sit down and wait. You have to put in work for God to bless you more during the process. Never depend on anybody because you will get some people who will give you high hopes and just not deliver. And yes, you will get some ‘rivals’ coming at you. You want to know what scares people? Success. When you don’t make moves and when you don’t climb up the ladder, everybody loves you because you’re not in competition. When you become competitive, the people start, ‘wait, hold on, wait, wait’. Do you and be yourself. Have fewer friends in the industry because most of these artistes nowadays are fake, they will want you to do good for them but never better than them.
By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: fdee500@yahoo.com)