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Yvonne Ncube, Showbiz Correspondent
AFTER the release of the Holy 10’s song “Too scared” which featured Kimberly Richard, the public has been curious to discover the mystery girl behind the hit song, which has received over 580 000 views in a month.

A proud product of the City of Kings and Queens, Kimberly (born Kimberly Chigubhu) grew up KwaNtuthu Ziyathunqa and is studying Political Science and Diplomacy at the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).

A newcomer in the music industry, Kimberly has shown that she has great potential.

The 20-year-old third-year student told Chronicle Showbiz in an interview that she has always been an underground vocalist.

“I’ve always been a backing vocalist as I sang with some ladies at my church who were recording artists.

I’d help them out with backing vocals at the studio but never ventured into my own music. I can safely say that the song that I did with Holy was my first song.

“However, I started singing when I was really young from primary school and never really thought that one day, I’d branch out and be an independent artist which I’m considering.

I hope that with time, I’m going to find myself and start recording music consistently,” Kimberly said.

She said she recorded the song the day before its release.

“My experience with working with Holy was amazing because he’s such a patient person and he’d really take time dealing with my emotions.

I was refusing to record. Actually, I was afraid, but he took me through the process until I actually recorded the song the day before it was released.

“Besides that he is my boyfriend, he’s really a fun person to work with and he was there for me to work out everything. I hope to work with him more,” she said.

Kimberly said “Too scared” was shoved out of Holy 10s archives.

“One thing that people do not know about Holy 10 is that he has more than 200 unreleased songs. He’s such a workaholic; he always has songs all the time.

It’s extreme that if he just needs a song for anything, he’s going to just look at his collection and bring something to life because there are too many,” she said.

“So, the song Too Scared, Holy had it before we even met, it was part of his collection. He had it for a very long time and it developed when we met.

He says he was waiting for a vocalist to feature with him on the song. So when I came along we decided to bring it to life. We started working on it and he liked how I sounded.”

In the future, Kimberley who has been featured in a number of music videos, said she is going to compose her own songs as she is considering frequenting the studio.

“I mean, there’s no way I’m going to be featuring on Holy’s songs forever. At some point, I have to stand alone and be an independent artiste.

I’ll have music that will have my sound and authenticity. I won’t always be flying on the Holy 10 brand. Wait for the independent Kimberly Richard brand,” she said.

Kimberly said she decided to use her father’s surname as her stage name as she loved how it sounded.

“Richard is my father’s name. When I opened my Instagram page in 2020, I decided to be creative and use it because I loved how it sounded so much.”

The only daughter in a family of six, attended SOS, Bulawayo Adventist School (BAS), and Townsend High School.

Aside from singing, she is also a model.

“I started modelling at primary school, but I had never tried it at a pageant level. I explored modelling at the pageantry level at UZ in which I walked away with two crowns.

I became Miss UZ’s first princess and was also crowned the Most influential personality on campus which was a people’s choice.

“It was an amazing moment for me because that was my first time and I managed to get away with two crowns. I was in part one and a month old at my university,” she said.

Besides singing, she said she loves hanging out with friends as she is a very social person.

“I’m a person who loves relaxing and giving myself time for myself and also spending my time with the people that I love.

I love spa dates — going for massages.

I love all the nice things basically,” she said.

– @SeehYvonne