Nigerian artist Spyro recently shared insights about his upbringing as a pastor’s child and its impact on his life and career. In a conversation with media personality Chude Jideonwo on the Just Chude podcast, Spyro opened up about the challenges and influences of his strict religious upbringing.
Laughing, Spyro recalled the challenges of growing up with a pastor father. “My dad is a pastor and it was difficult growing up with a pastor,” he said. “You’re going to have to be in church whether or not you want to be in church, you must love God by force. He made us study the Bible from cover to cover, whether you like it or not.”
He reminisced about the rigid discipline, especially the early morning Bible study sessions. “The annoying thing was the morning devotion; it was when sleep was getting deepest that they would wake you up for morning devotion. What the thing does is that it makes you hate God instead of loving him because it’d be like, ‘This God wey wan ruin my life’.”
Spyro admitted that his strict upbringing felt like a burden, and when he started university, he viewed it as a long-awaited escape. “It was crazy, trust me it was a crazy experience. When I got into uni I saw it as my freedom and I never returned home for about four years. I was like, ‘Thank you Jesus for this open door,’ you know? I was waiting for it and I took it, then I didn’t even turn back.”
Despite the challenges, Spyro acknowledged the lasting positive impact of his upbringing. “The good thing about having pastor parents is that even though I don’t like the approach and everything, that fear of God is still in me. So all through my university, I was saved, I didn’t do it for my parents; I just had the fear of God. That has worked for me until now, to this date, I don’t smoke, drink, or carry women. All that attests to the fear of God because my dad and mum aren’t here but God is seeing me,” he concluded.
