Kanjii Mbugua: Bio And Journey Into Gospel Music

Back in the formative days when the Kenyan gospel industry was a totally different picture in its infancy, Kanjii Mbugua was already in the scenes – as a young, highly motivated and vibrant creative. At 19 years of age in 1998, yes, you got that right, 1998, Kanjii had his first solo concert.

These were the days when what we’d call today choir songs, were the thing. Adamu na Eva of Mary Atieno was the talk of the town, along with hits from artists like The Kassangas – household names of the time.

You must wonder, this is the 90s, how in the world (the world aside first). How in a 20^th century, KANU-led Kenya (free education, free milk and all) could a 19-year old be so deep into music? This was a time when everybody pursued mainstream careers (we still do) – you had to be a doctor, or an engineer, and if not, perhaps an accountant, lawyer or a teacher. Yes, it does feel a bit retro.

To get a good impression of Kanjii, you must know that he was raised differently, and encouraged to pursue his ambitions from early on. From this, Kanjii grew to be an outlier in many respects.

Through high school, his ambition was to become a professional basketball athlete at the NBA. Even his choice of school was made based on this ambition, so he joined the school that had a serous b-ball program for his ambition – Nyeri Baptist High School.

Fast-forward, Kanjii has been involved in Kenyan gospel music long enough to witness all the waves and tides of change to this present day. He remains active todate, with highly acclaimed songs like Kama Si We, sung in collaboration with Pambio Worship.

Bio

Let’s dive into some quick facts, shall we?

Upbringing

Kanjii Mbugua was brought up in Nairobi, and as trajectory has it for most artists, he grew an interest for music pretty early, and was duly primed up for it, being trained in different musical instruments – the piano and guitar, as well as vocals. Having parents open to the arts went a long way for the Kanjii and his siblings.

Their dad, Bedan Mbugua schooled up the conventional way, became a pharmacist, but eventually changed gears to writing. He was one of the most brazen journalists during Kenya’s repressive days, and was even improsoned for his bold work. He is still going strong to this day, writing largely on environmental advocacy and social justice on The Nation. He is also the president of an environmental conservation organisation, Green Blue Foundation Africa.

Bedan’s passion for the arts trickled well onto his family. The eldest daughter, Wanjiru Mbugua took on sportsmanship at a young age, angling for tennis, which was also her father’s sport. She was nothing short of prolific, and scaled high through the ranks, once being ranked fifth best in Africa, and holding multiple administrative roles in the sport.

Her immediate sibling, Muthoni Mbugua studied law in India, and later nursing, leading her to a role in a prominent army as a practitioner.

For Kanjii, the arts pulled him into tennis, and later basketball, to which he held on for a while. He wanted to go professional as a player, but at some point realized that he wasn’t growing any taller. Kanjii shot up early, which gave an impression that he would grow taller with age. But his growth spurt ended, making him reconsider ambitions.

All along he had been passionate for music, and had even began a music group, The Turning Point in high school. When the time came for a choice, it was easy – he chose to sing. The choice was made easier when he was nominated as the Kenyan ambassador to the World Vision’s Youth Choir.

Marriage and family

Kanjii is married to Mwendie Mwiti Mbugua, now for 19 years as of 2025. The two crossed paths in the US when Mwendie was on a musical tour, and Kanjii a Music majors in Biola University. Kanjii noticed her performing and got the distinct feeling that she was special.

He sure took the shot, and the two struck a friendship that would stand the test of time and long-distance separation, seeing that Mwendie came back to Kenya after the tour, while Kanjii remained in the States.

The two wedded in May 2006, and have been together ever since, now blessed with a daughter and son, Selah and Benga.

University in the States and Milele Band

At that time no one was studying music. You could count on your hands the people who were going to study music. But you know he (Bedan, Kanjii’s dad) was like, “Hey dude, if this is what you want to do, you have to be the best, so go and study it.”

Kanjii Mbugua on his father’s remark on studying music in the US, while on an interview with Jeff Koinange, on the Capital Talk in 2008

In 1997, phew, the sound of that year, Kanjii moved to the States for studies in music with the full support of his father, which was rather an uncommmon thing at the time.

His passion for music burned all the wilder in the States. While there, he once attended a Kenyan church, where he bumped into three long-lost friends: Kaima, Christian and Mwaura.

The four knew each other growing up. They would meet yearly at the Brackenhurst Conference and Retreat Center during the Easter weekend at an annual event. Owing to the school life, they lost touch for more than a decade, only meeting later in the US in 1998.

The lads rekindled their lost friendship, and began hanging out, playing basketball. They however wanted more for their relationship than the thrill of burning calories and scoring hoops on a basketball court.

Among the four, only Mwaura and Christian pursued non-music affiliated majors. The other two were musicmania, and more on, the appeal for music was greater, so the group opted to go music, another win for Kanjii’s ambition. Here are the backgrounds of the each members of the quartet:

• Kanjii – Music
• Kaima – Music Composition
• Christian – Theology
• Mwaura – Business

Their quartet was named Milele, a music group doubling as a non-profit, charity organisation.

The band went on to produce four albums:

• Forever in June 2000. On this album was Sanjolama, the bands most popular song
• Level Up in June 2003
• Afrique in June 2005
• Monday in June 2007

Debut and solo albums

In 2008, Kanjii debuted with a solo album, Stories. On this album was the song “I’m Just A Man,” highlighting the struggle of a man-figure growing with an emotionally absent father.

The album exuded Kanjii’s passion for social advocacy, as the songs on the album focused on social injustices, relationships, and politics. The album was launched at a live event in December 2008.

Kanjii’s second album Rauka would be released about 5 years later in 2014. On this album featured artists like Alice Kimanzi and Enid Moraa who sang as background vocalists on the song Rauka, and collaborating artists on Mwanzo Na Mwisho.

5 years later in 2019, Kanjii released a live studio worship album Set Us On Fire recorded live in California. The motivation behind this album was to produce music from Africa that could be sang in the rest of the world.

Kanjii’s single biggest hit, Kama Si We, came five years later in April 2024. As at the time of publishing, the song has garnered 3.5Million YouTube views in 11 months. Kama Si We was sung in collaboration with Pambio Worship Music, a community of young worship leaders, which kanjii helped bring together.

The song bears Kanjii’s song-writing DNA, which always involves collaboration with other creatives. Kama Si We was a collective writing effort by Kanjii, Aaron Rimbui, Bien and Jackline Muchemi, a member of Pambio.

Discography

Before debuting as a solo artist, Kanjii was involved with numerous artists including:

• Wyre
• Rigga
• Atemi Oyungu

Even after his debut, Kanjii’s discography lights up with collaborations with several artists:

• Aaron Rimbui
• Jeevo
• Common Hymnals
• Afrobeats Worship – a duo of Kanjii and LA based Rashon Murph
• Pambio Worship

Full Discography

Initiatives

Kijiji Agency

Kanjii’s mission is to make his life count for something, and he’ll always have a broad initiative to that end. Kijiji Agency is one of those initiatives. The agency started off as a music distribution outfit, but moulted with time into the current digital marketing and media agency.

Pambio Worship

Pambio Worship is one of Kanjii’s many success stories in mentorship. In 2022, Kanjii invited a number of worship leaders to a concert, which led to the formation of a worshipping community of worship leaders. The group has a growing discography, including their debut Kama Si We, Jambo, Nimesamehewa, Nairobi and Asai.

Awards and Recognitions

As a man of many feats, Kanjii is widely recognized in the gospel music industry. He has multiple awards to his name:

• Groove Award for Male Artist Of The Year – 2008
• Groove Award for Best Live Music Performer – 2009
• Groove Award for Diaspora Artiste Of The Year – 20009 (Awarded to the Milele Group)
• Africa Gospel Music Award (AGMA) for the AGMA Special Award For Contribution To The Promotion Of Gospel Music – 2013
• Kalasha Award for TV Drama Of The Year – 2014 (Awarded for Kijiji Agency’s Groove Theory, Africa’s first musical TV series)
• Cafe Ngoma Award for Pioneer of The Year – 2020

How has Kanjii inspired you? Let us know. Thanks for your time!

[Cover image credits: Facebook/Kanjii]