I’ve kissed many girls during shows – Kiss Daniel

Fast rising singer, Kiss Daniel, speaks about his career and sundry issues
As an undergraduate of the Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta, where he studied water
engineering, popular singer, Kiss Daniel (real
name Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe), had to
divide his time between studies and song
writing.
Although he was passionate about music and
sometimes dreamed of a future brightened with a
successful music career, his studies actually
came first in his personal scale of preference.
The result was that, unlike many other singers
who dropped out of school to embrace music
and stardom, Daniel graduated from the
university with a Second Class Upper degree in
2013.
The following year, he took the music scene by
storm with the hit song, Woju.
Recalling the past, he says, “If I had failed to
find a records label that would be willing to sign
me on, after completing youth service, I would
have moved on to the United Kingdom for a
Masters degree and afterwards, searched for a
job as initially planned.”
The singer, easily one of the youngest in Nigeria
to make it to the top spot at 21, thinks that his
success is divinely ordained.
“The fact that I got a records label during youth
service and not when I was still in school shows
there is a reason for it. It is as if everything is
perfectly timed. If I had found a label when I was
an undergraduate, I definitely would have
dropped out of school. But I thank God that
everything has happened at the right time,” he
says.
Most people might wonder where this young
man, is called ‘Kiss’. But he says, in an interview
with our correspondent, that it was originally a
pseudonym given to him by his friends and
admirers back in the university.
“They called me ‘Kiss’ because of my dimples.
Back in school, a lot of people, including my fans,
knew me by that name. Only a few people,
except my close friends, knew that my real name
is Oluwatobiloba,” he says.
Daniel attributes his active involvement in music,
even at the age of 11, to his background.
He says, “I come from a family of artists. My late
dad was a painter who also did a bit of
songwriting on the side. My sister works with
Cool FM as a presenter and my brother is a
fashionista. You can see that my family is well
grounded in creativity. Besides, dad always
encouraged us to be self-employed. He would
tell us to use our God-given talents to make a
living for ourselves. So when I was starting out
as a music artiste he supported me.”
Unfortunately, he lost his father about two
months ago. Before the sad event, he had
enjoyed a special relationship with him –
something that was a shade deeper than a
normal father-son relationship.
“Dad was my number one fan and my best
friend. He is still my best friend because I still
talk to him every day, even in death. We were so
close that we used to discuss the kind of things
that a father and son would usually not talk
about. Even when I had sex for the first time, I
recall discussing the experience with him,” he
says.
The singer’s greatest regret in life, perhaps, is
not fulfilling his promise to buy his father a new
car on his birthday. The latter died, regrettably,
just before his son hit it big on the music scene.
Nevertheless, Daniel, who prides himself in being
the ‘baby of the music industry’, says that
despite his success and the resulting fame he
enjoys, nothing has changed about him. “I am
still the same shy and gentle person that I have
always been. The only thing that has changed
about me is that I don’t go out as often as I
used to do,” he says.
Admitting that Woju’s huge success came with
the expected financial benefits, he insists that he
is only “successfully comfortable” and not very
rich.
He says, “I don’t lack anything. If I want or need
anything, I can get it any time.”
This does not include beautiful and willing young
women, most of who would do anything possible
to hang out with him. Yet, Daniel complains of
being ‘mobbed’ by such female fans each time
he performs on stage.
“On one occasion in Warri, some of the female
fans got so excited to see me perform live that
they literally tore my shirt to shreds. I get kissed
on stage a lot. Most of the time, when I go to
shows, I already know I am going to kiss a girl
or more. There was this show I attended in
Ibadan. A girl came up to dance with me. While
we were dancing, she kissed me and I got
carried away for a few moments,” he reveals.
Contrary to an online report, Kiss Daniel denies
ever endorsing gay marriage. “I don’t know
where people got that information. I have never
supported gay marriage. Why would I do that?”
he says.