BIOGRAPHY: INSPIRING STORY OF PRINCESS JULLY

 Princess Jully whose real name is Lillian Auma Aoka  is a Kenyan female music artist, singer and songwriter  who is popularly known for her traditional Luo type of music better known as benga.  

Princess Jully was born in a family where she had nine siblings in a   village called Makalda which is actually found in the southern part of Nyanza. Nyanza is located in the south western part of Kenya.  

Princess Jully lost her mother who was at the time working as a farmer who is operating on a small scale and she was providing the family with the income necessary to fulfill the needs of the family.

 Of all the nine siblings that Princess Jully had, she was the youngest and as fate would have it she lost three of her siblings to death and the remaining sex siblings survived the early stages of childhood. 

Princess Jully learnt about music at a young age while she was still living with her grandmother who was called Benta Kanyamkago Nyagolima.

 Princess Jully’s grandmother became the first woman to rise up and become a chief in the province called Nyanza province. 

Apart from becoming a chief in the Nyanza province, Princess Jully’s grandmother was also a very talented and good music artist, singer and also a songwriter.

 After completing her primary school education, Princess Jully joined secondary school where she only managed to attend only senior one which is actually the first year of study in the secondary school in Kenya.  

She said that she was not able to complete school simply because she underwent some complicated problems that stopped her from continuing with her studies. 

She said that she could not compete school simply because her grandmother could not afford to pay her school fees up to the school level that she desired. 

According to Princess Jully, the people who lived in her community never really believed in educating of children who were girls.

 These people had a belief that taking girls to school was just like wasting money that would have been used to some better things in life. As a result of this kind of mindset, these people preferred educating boys instead of educating girls. 

Princess Jully managed to study at a school called Bikira Girl’s high school where she attended for only one year and that is senior one before dropping out due to the lack of school fees.

 Princess Jully continued by saying that she was very lucky for having been able to go as far as senior one since most of the girls who lived in her village were not even able to get the chance to step in any classroom. 

Although she said that deep down in her heart she was very frustrated with what had happened to her and that she was very disappointed with life. 

Princess Jully soon became very pregnant after leaving school and as a result of the pregnancy, her father disowned her and she started to fend for herself. After being abandoned by her father, Lillian was able to meet the man who would later become her husband and his name was Julius Okumu. 

Okumu Julius was a singer and songwriter and he used the name Prince Jully while performing on stage. 

Luck smiled on Lillian when Okumu decided to accept her pregnancy and this was after she gave birth to baby boy whom she decided to name Felix. 

After having her baby, Lillian started working with the band of Julius Okumu who now had become her husband.  Lillian was working as a backup singer in the band. 

The name of the band that was being led by her husband was called Jolly Boys Band and during her performances she was using the name called “Mbilia Bel”. 

She said that she called herself that name simply because she thought the resembled the singer from the Democratic Republic of Congo which was then called Zaire.

 In 1997, Lillian unfortunately lost her husband who is called Julius Okumu.  

After the death of her husband, Princess Jully decided to take over the leadership of the band and even before she took over the leadership of the band, this band was already a success under the leadership of her late husband Prince Jully.

 But when she took over its leadership, the band became more successful and this was very evident after they released their hit song that became very popular all over Kenya. This hit song was called “Dunia Mbaya”.

 Princess Jully has been releasing new music very often and she released her 19^th album in the year 2007 and this album was called “Aneno Lek”. 

This fine album was actually produced by a talented music producer called Tabu Osusa who works for the Ketebul productions.

 In August 2007, Princess Jully released another album and she decided to dedicate the cover of that album to one of the top political parties in Kenya called the orange Democratic Movement as the 2007 General elections that were held in Kenya were approaching. 

This album which was littered with a lot of political tones was actually produced in a studio called BluZebra studios by a music producer called Tedd Josiah.  

Princess Jully has been very successful in her musical career in a way that she has managed to perform around the world in different countries and some of these countries are Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States among others.

 Princess Jully also decided to set up a production house for herself where she is able to mentor young upcoming music artists across Kenya.

 Princess Jully decided to call the production house Jully Productions.  In 2010, the talented Princess Jully decided to release another album that was based on the dispute over the island that is found in Lake Victoria and that island is called Migingo Island.  

Princess Jully one time also was one of the members of the famous Divas of the Nile which is a super group whose other members were Suzzana owiyo, Mercy Myra, and also Achieng Abura.

 This popular group was able to perform during the Mundial Festival in a place called Tilburg found in Netherlands that was in the year 2007. Princess Jully is a very talented and inspirational music artists who has become a household name in Kenya and all over Africa. 

Her music has touched the hearts and souls of very many people positively. 

She continues to inspire very many Kenyan youths especially young girls who would like to become successful music artists and singers.