How Grammy winner Ryan Ofei uses music to honour his faith
In a new interview with the Block, the singer reflects on how a near-death experience impacted his career
Christian singer Ryan Ofei began his singing career in Ottawa as part of the collective Campus Rush. He then pivoted to gospel music and released three EPs before dropping his debut album, Restore, in 2024.
Ofei is also part of the choir Maverick City Music, and has won several Grammys with the group. In a new interview with The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, Ofei opens up about winning those awards, embracing his faith and more.
The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below.
So let's learn more about you first. I actually wanted to talk about that song we just heard, ["Celebrate"]. Apparently, that was the result of a near-death experience.
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, for sure. [I was] raised in the GTA and fell in love with music [when I was] a child. And but I had really strict, religious parents. We'd always be at church and all that type of stuff, and I moved east to Ottawa to escape everything, [because] I wanted to grow, I wanted to find myself. And I felt like I couldn't find myself if I was always being told what to do. I needed to discover [things] for myself. And so on my 19th birthday, [I] went to a party [and] almost died as a result of a near-car accident. It's Jan. 31, so it's a blizzard in Montreal. We just came back from a party, it was a really fun party.
Yeah?
And we're on our way back home to Ottawa. So [within] two hours in a blizzard, an 18 wheeler truck almost takes us out. And it was a near-death experience. Just seeing yourself and realizing it could be over at that moment. And it was a big wake up call for me and honestly, for my friends as well.
Yeah. So what was the celebration about that experience?
The celebration is a son coming back home to his father, me coming back to my roots, me coming back to to my faith. And, you know, there's a verse that says, "There's a party in heaven when a sinner is saved." And so I'm really just depicting that as like, "This is what I found on the other side of all the pain." And on the other side of all the confusion, I found hope, faith and purpose. And it's time to celebrate.
Yeah, that journey is a very common journey, whether it's a religious journey or not. I think most young people need the opportunity to step away from the nest for a second, to kind of figure it out for themselves. And oftentimes after, you know, a few years, they come on back.
Yeah. [It's] probably even better for you because you know that it was your decision and it's your reality. A bird has to try to fly by itself and it may fall a bit or whatever, but it gets the opportunity to really [use] its wings and soar.
Yeah. A lot of people have gotten their start in the church. I mean, it's almost like this baked-in tradition for a lot of R&B/soul singers back in the day. That's where you start singing and that's when you get your musical education. So how did you make the jump then, from singing in church to then releasing music? So in 2019, a song called "No Limits" was your first single?
Yeah.
Alright. And it was more in the contemporary Christian music vein.
Yeah.
So maybe you can talk about what contemporary Christian music is specifically.
I think it's it's an interesting one because Christian music is the message, and then within that there's a whole bunch of subgenres. Yeah, there's Christian gospel music, there's R&B, there's CCM—
Which is contemporary Christian [music].
Yeah, they have different sounds and typically appeal to certain areas or regions. And I think what I've been doing recently is honestly just blending it all together and creating my own lane and [it's] a fun process for sure.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.