Sauti Sol singer on being Kenya’s first openly gay pop star - Lives Less Ordinary, BBC World Service

Willis Chimano is one of Kenya’s biggest pop stars. With the boyband Sauti Sol, he’s won a string of awards and even danced with President Barack Obama.

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But behind the success, Chimano had a secret: being gay in a country where gay sex is criminalised and people who identify as LGBT+ can experience violence and harassment.

Since his childhood, Chimano had been hiding his sexuality but then in 2018 he was outed. Suddenly his career stood its toughest test as he was caught in a media frenzy and dealing with exposure that threatened to derail his entire life - and his relationship with his conservative family. But Chimano emerged from the storm as role model for LGBT+ people, becoming Kenya’s most famous openly gay singer.

His memoir Heavy is the Crown will be released in 2026.

Regarding Chimano's account of what happened with the Nairobi police, we approached them for comment and didn't get a response.

00:00 Coming up
00:33 Intro
01:11 Growing up in Nairobi
01:51 Mother’s awareness of his sexuality and being in the closet
04:42 Finding escape through music
07:16 How boyband Sauti Sol was born
09:05 Singing in front of Barack Obama
11:30 Coming out to his bandmates
13:30 Being outed by the media
17:01 Homophobic threats on social media
19:47 Homophobic attacks
21:23 Acceptance of being gay
23:04 Denial and forgiveness
24:17 Parents reaction
27:40 Performance cancellation
30:49 Being a role model in Kenya
32:15 Outro

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Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producers: Maryam Maruf and June Christie
Video producer: Beatrice Guzzardi

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