The collabo that gave Juliana Kanyomozi ‘that big break’

“For me, the first time I had that big break. And I think that was the time we did Tata W’abaana with Bobi Wine and it literally just crossed over to... It just went crazy. It was crazy,” she said in an interview when she was asked to mention defining moments over the years.

“That was a defining moment for me as an artiste. Because I felt like I had been accepted in a territory that I wasn't sure I would be accepted before.”

Said Kanyomozi: “I wasn't very confident with singing Luganda before. I had been singing English, so when I did Luganda I was not sure how I'll be received. And then it was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. It was crazy. That was the first defining moment. That was the first time I would walk on the street... or hotel... and people come screaming, oh my God…”

The Kibaluma hitmaker said another defining moment was when she held her first concert at Didi's World. That she wasn't sure if people would come. It was organised by Steve Jean who produced her first songs.

The other moment was when she won Artiste of the Year at PAM awards, becoming the first woman to achieve that.

Who is Juliana Kanyomozi?

Born on November 27, 1980 in Kampala to Prince Gerald Manyindo and Catherine Manyindo, Juliana Kanyomozi grew up in Kampala and went to Bugema Adventist S.S. for senior one, before joining Namasagali College.

Her talent was heritable because her dad loved music and drummed as a pastime.

Kanyomozi became active in music while at Namasagali College where she was encouraged by Father Damian Grimes, who was the school’s headteacher, to join dance class after seeing her sing a Mariah Carey song at a school event.

While in high school, about 16 years old, she started doing karaoke.

Her brother Eddie Kim was a deejay at Sabrina's Pub, which was owned by the producer Hope Mukasa, and it was near where they were living, so he convinced the dad to allow her to start performing there.

In S.6 vacation, she started performing there regularly.

It's at Sabrina's that she met Steve Jean who produced her first song and the album she did with Iryn Namubiru when they were I-Jay .

She recorded her first song while in A-Level.

Doing Tata W’abaana with Bobi Wine was a big break for her and they also sang another song titled Mama Mbire, which was also a massive hit.

In S.6 vacation, she also got a job at Capital FM as a radio host and she was there for about six years.

She's also acted in a movie called Kiwani which was created by Henry Ssali, a former Daily Monitor Entertainment writer who now owns a PR firm.