During this month in which many are raising awareness on the importance of mental health, multi-award-winning singer Mthandazo Gatya has been celebrating 14 years since deciding to quit alcohol.
In conversation with the entertainment publication, Daily Sun, the triple platinum certified artist revealed that he was glad to have made the conscious decision to save himself, as he felt that if he continued, it might have ruined his life.
He shared that he has been exposed to alcohol since a young age and that others in his family have all been consuming alcohol. This later led him to experiment, and by grade 9 he was already drinking heavily.
“My family wasn’t aware that I was a drunkard. At the time, I looked at myself and where I started, it felt like my alcohol abuse would determine my future. I needed to break the curse.”
The Senzeni hitmaker says that his decision to quit came years later at the age of 24. By then he felt as though he was just too deep into it and feared that if he continued, it might have destroyed his life.
“Drinking felt to me like a pattern I needed to break because I had a lot of people in my family who had lost everything because of alcohol. My dad included.”
“When I told my friends, they thought I was kidding. I was also trying to prove a point to them that I could stop. That also helped me, so it wasn’t the hardest thing. I don’t recall a single day where I felt like I needed alcohol,” he explained.
He says that while the sobriety experience might be different for everyone, one thing is for sure, and that is that one cannot use alcohol as your source of happiness.
While he may have been in the industry for some time, the singer’s career skyrocketed in 2022, after he shared a video of himself participating in John Legend’s #OpenVerseChallenge of his song Nervous. This later led to him being invited to perform his rendition of the song alongside John Legend himself.
@mthandazogatya #duet with @John Legend #nervous #johnlegend #openversechallenge #fytシ ♬ Nervous – John Legend
Also see: Mthandazo Gatya behind the scene moments with John Legend
