Lucy Muia, a sister to celebrated Kenyan singer and songwriter Benson Mutua Muia, popularly known by his stage name Bensoul, broke down in tears during an interview aired on August 23.
Speaking candidly on the Sol Family show, Lucy recounted a period during her young brother’s career that she likes to forget if possible.
“I think that was one of my lowest moments,” she stated.
Lucy was describing Bensoul’s HIV scare that had the family spending sleepless nights questioning God.
On his part, the Sol Generation artist revealed that he was totally convinced that he had HIV/AIDS.
“I coughed for a whole month and wondered what the problem was. I went for an AIDS test because I had all the symptoms.
“At the time I felt like life was coming to an end. My mother cried when she saw me,” he recounted.
However, the test results came back negative.
By some twist of fate, it was during this dark period of his budding career that the words to Hart the Band’s smash gospel hit El Shaddai came to him.
Having had to look out for him since their early days, Bensoul’s sister knew she needed to step in, which is why she wasn’t taking no for an answer when she asked that he move back home.
“He could not sit on a chair without a sponge because he was literally just bones. He was extremely weak,” Lucy recalled.
On her part, Bensoul’s mother recalled how she almost lost her wits during this dark period.
After various consultations, Bensoul was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB), an illness that almost ended his music career before it even took off.
It was during this time that Bensoul ended up giving away his best songs which he had written, but just couldn’t muster the energy to sing, nor did he think that he was going to pursue music any further.
“I gave away songs such as Telenovela and Ntala Nawe and almost went back to Civil Engineering,” he revealed.
However, music was his calling and God was not yet done with him he explained.
Two weeks after being diagnosed with TB, he finally started gaining back his weight , thanks mostly to his mum and sister feeding him as often as they could.
The rest, as they say, is history. He has since gone on to sign up under Sauti Sol’s record label and released hit after hit, making him one of the most sought after musicians in the country.
