He is popularly known on stage as Herman Suede , born on 21st November 2002. Jason Herman Bortei- Doku , just turned 16 years, and is one of the youngest musicians in Ghana who has honed his music abilities to meet the demands of the competitive music market.
Herman Suede, the young Ghanaian musician, composer and song writer , discovered his talent for music when he was five years old. At an age when most of us are mostly still in our teenage high school phase, Herman the singer and song writer seems to have found a way of navigating life between school and his passion for music .
At the tender age of 5, he started studying classical music on piano and took formal music lessons. The student of Tema International School (TIS) Ghana, for the past year, has been working hard on some wonderful tracks.
According to Herman, he picks inspiration from Drake, Maleek Berry, Sarkodie, Manifest, King Promise, Stonebwoy, Wizkid, Davido, Mr Eazi, Burner Boy and Joey Badass.
He has released Five songs so far: ‘Be Mine,’ ‘Wavii,’ ‘Questions,’ ‘Pretty Mama’, and ‘Homies’, heavily influenced by Afro Pop, R&B and Rap. He composed three of the five songs when he was just 14 years old and released his last two songs Homies and Pretty Mama in 2018 at age 15, all five songs produced with support from D3MZ (Edem Cofie).
Young Herman Suede is very comfortable with, and continues to explore varying genres of music with a view to eventually homing in on one or two specific genres in the future. He remains versatile with his compositions stretching across a vast array of genres . He composes his music based on situations that go on around him mostly do with typical lives of teenagers whether it be puppy love or life’s challenges.
He has already performed on many big stages including Ghana Party in the Park in London, Tidal Rave at Kokrobite, The Glo Mega Music Show, Black Star Int. Film Festival at Sandbox, Pent Hall Week and Fresh ‘a’ Fair 2018 at the University of Ghana Legon. Herman would like to be perceived as a performer and not just a singer and his love for dancing is evident in the stage craft that accompanies all his performances.
It was, therefore, no surprise one of Ghana’s finest artists, M.anifest touted his credentials as the one to watch out for. The dazzling performances leading to the premiere of videos for ‘Be Mine’and ‘Wavii’ (Produced by Xposure Network) and ‘Questions’(Produced by Random FX) which was held at Level 8, One Airport Square celebrated the beauty of young ambition and a talented soul. Dubbed, ‘Herman Suede to the World’, the event brought together a cast of performances and audience who could sing along word-for-word and enthusiastically jam to the songs as they played. The event left his colleagues and industry players like Kumi Guitar, as well as Kuvie, Spacely, Nxwrth of La Meme Gang, among others stunned and hopeful for the coming generations of creatives. Young Herman Suede has also not gone unnoticed by the likes of Angeltown, Sarkodie and Kiddie as the Teen musician to look out for.
Multitalented Herman, looks forward to breaking boundaries with his music as he prepares to release more quality songs and videos. His new video for his song Pretty Mama is scheduled to be released on 13th December 2018. He is also working on an EP titled HI I’M HERMAN , which is due to be released early in 2019. The EP marks the crystallisation of the body of works produced thus far by Herman of Afro Pop, Afro fusion, Rap and R&B genre direction. All his songs are sung in English with a dash of Pidgin English and local Ghanaian phrases in some instances.
Herman Suede looks forward to featuring and collaborating with some of the greats in the Ghanaian music industry .
Social media handles:
IG: @hermansuede1
Twitter: @hermansuede
Facebook: herman suede