NAIROBI - Sometimes we always want to paint the Gospel music industry as rosy as possible and ignore the hurt, pain and betrayal that comes in life. The following article appeared on Tuesday 17th May 2011 in The Star newspaper.

Fast-rising gospel artiste Eko Dydda is trudging the path that most personalities have to tread on in their journey to stardom. Eko has learnt the hard way that with fame comes the possibility of betrayal and two-faced allies.

The singer, 24, who has been lying low for the better part of this year, explained that he is a father of two-month baby boy, Eko Dydda Jr, and that he got hitched in a secret wedding last year, where “close family and friends were invited.”

However, this did not go down well in the gospel circles where some are accusing him of eating the forbidden fruit. “I cannot fault them (religious people) for thinking what they thought because they heard the information from second-hand sources and it was all hearsay,” Eko Dydda told Word is. “They did not come to ask me what the real story was, because if they had, I would have told them. I have all the papers (wedding certificate) to prove (that I’m not living in sin).”

He takes solace that even “Jesus was crucified by religious people who did not ask Him if he was the Son of God as he claimed.” However, Eko Dydda said that he still got a lot of support from his close buddies like Juliani and Holy Dave as well as gospel movement Mad Love. “I have learnt that keeping your private life away from the media protects your family because they are not part of who you are as a personality and they would not know how to handle the media,”  Eko Dydda explained.

The singer was conspicuously absent at this year’s Groove Awards together with Emmy Kosgei and Ringtone. Last year, Eko Dydda was nominated four times out of which he bagged two awards for New Artiste of the Year and  Hip-Hop Song of the Year for Niko Na Reason.

Eko Dydda burst into the limelight with his first single Niko Na Reason featuring Holy Dave. He has now released singles likes Focus on Jesus and Me and My House both of which are massive hits.