When Steve Howgego sings opera, passersby tell him he has the voice of an angel. But for years it was silenced by grief and self-doubt
s a child, Steve Howgego loved to sing. His favourite teacher at primary school told him he did it beautifully. But at home, he was too loud for his mother, who said he sounded terrible. Howgego believed her, and it took him years to find his true voice. Now, at 66,
Over the following decades, any time Howgego found a place for himself, he struggled to keep it. He dropped out of his degree course, and got a job as a trainee computer programmer. From there, he went to London, where a headhunter told him he should be working for an investment bank. “I nearly fell to the floor. We were told in grammar school that those jobs were for public school people.”
Someone suggested Howgego try gospel singing. In 1991, aged 33, he joined London Community Gospel Choir. At around this time, he learned from his father that his great-great-grandfather was a Nigerian preacher who had come to Hartlepool. In some ways, joining the choir and going to church was like a second childhood. Howgego sang “with the voice of a seven-year-old; it had been dormant for so long”.
Later, when lockdown hit, his friend suggested he try busking; opera was the best earner. Howgego by now was unemployed and struggling to pay his mortgage. “I thought: ‘Why don’t I have a go?’”
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