At a point when her voice was beginning to carry beyond the church walls, Celestine Donkor nearly walked away from music altogether.
The gospel singer has revealed that early in her journey, she was confronted with a discouraging claim that plus-size artistes could not produce hit songs. The comment, she said, shook her confidence and almost derailed her calling.
In a recent interview with TV3, Donkor reflected on the resistance she faced as a young, gifted chorister whose talent quickly drew attention. As her popularity grew within her church choir, so did tension.
“That time I was young and very talented… So, I got a lot of love… When you’re singing and your song is ‘giving,’ they throw money on you. So, I’m always that girl who receives a lot of money from the congregation. I got a lot of hate among people from the choir.
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“One of the things that is very common in choir is when somebody stands out and the person is good, he’s always the one leading; he’s always people’s favourite. They get that kind of hate,” she recalled.
Her transition into solo ministry brought a different kind of blow. Some advisers, she said, urged her to slim down, insisting that her body type would prevent her from scoring a breakthrough hit.
“One of the feedback I got was that I should lose weight because plus sizes can’t be a hit. And that really was hard for me because I’m plus-size. I’ve always been big since I was born,” she said.
Those words lingered. Instead of focusing on songwriting and studio work, she found herself preoccupied with changing her appearance.
“It crushed me for some time. I stopped thinking about writing and singing. I was so focused on losing weight to appeal to people,” she added.
Her outlook shifted after watching a performance video by American gospel singer Tasha Cobbs for the song “Break Every Chain.” Seeing Cobbs minister powerfully on stage challenged the narrative she had internalised.
“At that time, she was bigger than I was. So, I put whatever I was doing to lose weight because it wasn’t even working anyway. So that video from Tasha Cobbs broke that thing over my life, and I picked up from where I left,” Celestine Donkor revealed.
Watch her statement below.
