MY PROFILE

 In my childhood days I stayed with my father Abdul Osaio Kamara and Mother Mrs. Aminata Kamara. Living with my parents and other family members, I grew up in the up-gun community in a tiny neighborhood in the East end part of capital Free town. I have two sisters (Adama and Fatmata) and three brothers (Kandeh, Alpha and Gibrilla). This is a fantastic family. I have lived and grown to love them anytime I think of the strength I receive from them.

I attended the Saint Theresa’s primary school in Free town from 1985-1990 and proceeded to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Secondary School free town in 1990. For five academic years, I was in secondary school and by 1996; I completed my secondary school education.

Around 1996/7 the civil war started in Sierra Leone in 1991 spilled over from the provinces to the capital Freetown. As a result of this my family had to flee free town as refugees to the neighboring republic of Guinea. It was not easy out there as refugees, but thank God for surviving the pain, struggling and sufferings we encountered during our stay in Guinea. It was as well within this period I started nurturing a career interest in music. I was by then performing in different night clubs and community halls. My popularity since then started growing and I became commonly known as Yok-7 which means Yusuf Osaio Kamara.

By the year 1998, I joined a musical group called PLANET SOUNDS PRODUCTION. It is with this group that I did my audition and qualified as a recording artist. In 1999 we completed an album called “PLANET SOUNDS COMPILATION VOLUME 1” in which I have two songs, namely “RIGHT UP AND HOW MANY”. About this time we also formed a musical team called “NOBLE SQUAD” the idea behind establishing Noble squad is based mainly on the interest of spreading Sierra Leone’s music all over the world, believing in our individual talents and contributions to the social debate of the country but doing all this in a non-violent manner. During this period  we attempted at compiling a musical album which was not completed for the fact that some of my colleagues in noble squad fled Sierra Leone to Europe and America with the intensification of the war, some of them had sponsors within their families, helping them pursue further education abroad.

The quest for the music career was ever growing and so in 2001, I had to continue to record songs in studios this time as solo artist. In 2002, I started out with another company called “PARADISE RECORDS” this recording company was owned by a famous Sierra Leone musician by the name of Jimmy Bangura commonly known as Jimmy-B and he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the company.

While in paradise records together with some colleague musicians we did another compilation called PARADISE RECORDS COMPILATION VOLUNE 1. It was from this we started thinking of ways of establishing contact with the rebels involving in the Sierra Leone civil war. Our first attempt was the launching of the peace campaign aimed at persuading the rebels to stop the war and drop their weapons, engage in peace building programs and necessitate the establishment of a permanent peace for a better Sierra Leone. My song ranked among the best and soon became a hit of unthinkable proportion in the country and it was the number one hit for the rest of 2002 and 2003. The song is called “A-Bo” and it was done in our local dialect “Creole”. It is hip-hop rap-song and the first ever rap song to be produced in our local dialect in the history of music in Sierra Leone.

In 2003, my first solo album called “PALAVA’ was recorded and this is meant to put a stop the violence in country the album contains eight tracks including “A-BO”- the hit track. The album “PALAVA” was a turning point in my musical career and it served as an inspiration not only for me but for those who sincerely want to see me become a big and successful in the field of music and artistic creativity. In consequence, within that moment, I was blessed with an opportunity to pursue my career in the

My stay in china witness the production of another musical album in 2004 through the combined effort of me and my elder brother Kandeh Osaio Kamara who is commonly known as KOK. The album was called “RING N THE NAN” and in China, we gave our selves the group named RF CHORD which means Real Family Chord. We recorded this album in one of the greatest studios in China CHINARECORDS in a state called Guangzhou. The album contains fourteen tracks. It was a successful album which took us to countries around Asia, Europe and some parts in Africa. Their came a pleasant opportunity in 2005 when I was fortunate to record another solo album called “LIFE AND DEATH” which preaches an aspect o being alive and not being alive. This is an album which can boast of fourteen tracks in it.

The year 2006 saw me taking a home-ward journey from China back to Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone, my interest in music became even stronger and that got me more attached to a career of music. This resulted in 2007 in the recording of another album called “PACK N’ GO”. PACK N’ GO touches on sensitive issues like poverty, suffering and bondage f acing the people of Sierra Leone. This is considered the most successful of my album and effect. In that year, awards were given to me consequently. I was crowned the best artist and a song in this album by the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2007.This album contains twelve songs.

In 2008, a human right team called Amnesty International called upon me to carry out a campaign throughout the country. The highlight of the campaign is “STOP THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN”. This was followed by another campaign which I partook in the republic of Liberia. This was a campaign organized and mounted by the Amnesty International on bases of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) particularly focusing on the problems of women in Liberia.

  By early 2009, I also joined Amnesty International as a volunteer on a campaign to “END MATERNAL MORTALITY IN SIERRALEONE” together with three other colleagues, Vida, Willie, DJ Lulu and famous Nigerian actress Omotola Jalade Ekeinde. I was appointment as an Ambassador for Amnesty International, Sierra Leone.

 In the same year, I together with some of my colleague artists, calling our selves “ARTISTS UNITED FOR PEACE BUILDING IN SIERRALEONE” went on a tour that took us across the country. That tour was a sensitization campaign meant to enhance the peace community among the Sierra Leone’s people’s party (SLPP), All people’s congress (APC) and the people’s movement for democratic change (PMDC). This peace campaign was sponsored by the United Nations mission in Sierra Leone and the government of Sierra Leone.

“TRUE LOVE” is another album I came up with 2009 also. True love is a lesson that teaches the tendencies of true love and making the right choice when in love. The album contains fourteen tracks with hit tracks like steady the green, true love and be my girl.

In 2011, I released Bobor For U Mot, commentating on the need to be honest with your situation and predicament but not to be false and pretending. The album has fourteen songs.