Singer Queen Marie J.

Queen Marie J, born Marie Njoroge, is a Kenyan female songwriter, musician, recording, and performing artist. Her music is a diverse and versatile Afro-Zouk fusion, hip-hop, and Swahili RnB music.

She has worked on creating uniquely blended music incorporating her life experiences as well as love tales spelt in rhythm and quintessence.

Her performances have been hailed by fellow artistes and audiences as her stage presence and choreography invigorate her growing fan base across East Africa.

Queen Marie's journey in music officially started in September 2018 marked by her decision to pursue music professionally.

Embarking on her debut single titled Io Sto I Bene, Italian for "I feel good", Marie J worked with renowned Kenyan director, Nezzoh Montana on her first music video which was a great success.

Her passion for music started at a tender age as she interacted with music as a child with a curiosity about different styles of the often Swahili songs she enjoyed with her family in Kenya and later moved to Italy at the Age of 11.

Despite being barely five years in the music industry, Marie J has had her fair share of tribulations and one she highly talked about is about a sour deal with Tanzanian star Rayvanny.

"Rayvanny from Tanzania breached the agreement terms we had of working on a collaboration even after all production costs we made," she says.

According to Marie, the two were in constant communication through WhatsApp where he agreed to work with her in order to help "push her talent".

"He requested that If I give him an amount of money he would help me to shine all the way up within a short period of time so we agreed and I was sending the money to him anytime he requested," she says.

This was about a collaboration that they had already worked on and was poised to come out in 2020. However, Marie claims that on the day of the collabo premiere, everything went south.

She says she found out she was blocked on all platforms with the excuse that "Kuna mambo yametokea" (some things have happened)without any further explanation.

Asked whether she has reached Rayvanny since he left the WCB Wasafi label, "he was supposed to help me personally but since he has left his previous label it would be easier to work with him, so I hope for the best. Probably the problem was his label then," she said.

That aside, Queen Marie J has had some success. After her debut project, she released her second single Giogode, Chorea, High Up, and Living in Peace, among many others.

She also released a song Mr Jungle Man praising William Ruto ahead of the just concluded presidential election.

"I saw Ruto in my dreams three years back being crowned by God and I believed as a prophetess that was a big revelation that's why my confidence rests in him as expressed in my support song for him," she says.

Queen Marie J is convinced that her musical talent is a tool for transformation and outreach to her audiences and society.

"I have always had a passion to lend a hand since I was a child. I was brought up to embrace compassionate ways of dealing with all in the community. With that, from realising urgent needs in our community we embarked with my like-minded friends and associates to build a children's home to support the destitute families and it's an ongoing project," she says.

She is currently working on her album as she reaches out to meet and marvel at her fast-growing music fan base.

The award-winning artiste has been nominated for several music awards in the country and she won the Best influential female artist award at the E360 music awards gala.