Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK

Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK

UK-based Zimbabwean songbird Blessing Annatoria is currently making waves following her recent song Lola that she features artist Ishan.

So far, this year, the song Lola along with Kae Chaps’ Gehena’, Qounfuzed ft Bazooker – Kamunamato Kekubhawa and Saintfloew’s Silas Mavende’s among others have won the hearts of many fans.

As we approach the end of the year, the above-mentioned songs have gotten popular to an extent where netizens have already declared some of them to be the songs of the year for 2022.

Among the new breed of artists who are taking over the music industry by storm is UK-based Annatoria.

Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK
Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK. Image Credit: Blessing Annatoria (Facebook)
Her name is Blessing Annatoria Chitapa. She is based in Russells Hall, Dudley, England.

She was born on 20 March 2002 in Harare, Zimbabwe.

She moved from Zimbabwe at the age of seven and she was raised with Christian values and her family is full of gospel singers.

During an interview she once had, she revealed that she also sings for her church congregation every week.

As quoted by Glamour, Annatoria said growing up, she would listen to musicians whom she credits for helping shape her voice.

She said:

“I grew up on a lot of gospel music, from powerful musicians such as Tasha Cobbs, Donnie McClurkin and Kierra Sheard. These musicians inspired me to use my gift as a vocal piece for the good news. Singing hymns also played a big part in moulding me to be the singer and person that I am today. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of RnB music and it has helped me in exploring different areas of my voice. People like Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson have motivated me to hit the high notes and allow myself to go wherever I want with my voice.”

Her rise to stardom started after she wowed millions of fans across the UK when she was crowned the ninth winner of ‘The Voice’ in November 2020.

On The Voice UK, she had Olly Murs as her mentor. His guidance while competing on the show led to her being his second winning act on The Voice UK.

Since then she never looked back, barely five months after winning on The Voice, on 30 April last year, Annatoria released her first album titled Count My Blessings.

This development made her the youngest winner in The Voice UK’s history, to release an album

By that time, I Smile, the first single from the album, an uplifting and empowering interpretation of the Kirk Franklin original, was already out on all digital platforms.

On that track, she is joined by a remotely recorded choir led by Kingdom Choir’s Wayne Hernandez who are best known for performing at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding.

Wayne Hernandez has also worked with Jay Z and the Grammy Award-winning group -Gorillaz.

Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK
Zimbabwe Song Of The Year Contender Annatoria’s Journey From Singing In Church To Winning The Voice UK. Image Credit: Blessing Annatoria (Facebook)

After the competition, Blessing said winning was her biggest achievement yet.

“I am so proud of how far I have come and I’m so intrigued to see what the future holds for me”

Chitapa also recorded Angels in 2020 as a single.-iharare