UMOREN JOY “JAYBLISS”, is a Musician and a Live band performing artist who hails from Akwa ibom state , Lagos Nigeria. She is popularly known and called JAYBLISS. She is the Founder and CEO of JAYBLISS ENTERTAINMENT which comprises of The JAYBLISS BAND , JAYBLISS CLOTHINGS AND JAYBLISS EVENTS . She is a renowned vocalist and lead singer of the JAYBLISS BAND, a contemporary repertoire Live Band in Lagos Nigeria (also available to travel ).
JBB also has an annual concert tagged THE JAYBLISS EXPERIENCE (Maiden edition was in 2024). She is also a seasoned professional artist backup singer and was actively working with the legendary lady of songs , ONYEKA ONWENU until her demise as a backup singer and a onetime Personal Assistant. She also worked with Gloria Ibru , Mayokun and a few others .
Her passionate delivery and endearing stage showmanship has earned her and the band performing at events for notable people and organisations such as the Lagos state Chief of Staff Mr Tayo Ayinde, Dr Hamzat, Commissioner for women affairs Ogun State Hon. Adijat, Commissioner for Housing, Ogun state , Hon. Jagunmolu. Also reputable organisations such as The Rotary Club (Lagos and Abeokuta chapter) and Friends Arena (Lagos Chapter)
She is the official model and the face of the brand JAYBLISSCLOTHINGS, a Clothing and Accessories brand where fashion meets affordability , ensuring that the needs of women to look stylish can be achieved without breaking the bank .
She holds a university degree in THEATRE ARTS from the prestigious UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS, UNILAG, Akoka- Lagos Nigeria and also a 3 years Law programme from the same University. She got her certification as an Event planner from LAVISH Event Academy and other business management qualifications(in-view).
For JAYBLISS, being compassionate and helping others are essential aspects of her identity and life purpose with plans of having an official NGO launched in the nearest future to help humanity (Especially in empowering The girl Child and Women) and ultimately make the world a better place
A few days back, City People Journalist, Benprince Ezeh (08068599879) had a chat with her and she spoke on how she set up her band ‘JayBlissBand’. Below is an excerpt from the chat.
JayBlissBand, when did you initiate it?
Okay, so I would say JayBlissBand officially started in 2018. 2018 was when I did my CAC, so that’s why I say officially, although it had existed before then, but we had structure in place. I would say I am JayBlissBand, so to speak, and I’ve always done live band music since time immemorial, so that means I cannot put a date to it, but let’s say maybe 2013, 2014, thereabouts.
What motivated you to go into band music?
Okay, I would say my first point of motivation is my love for music, generally. I love music, I love beautiful sounds, and I had always loved to be a performing artist, so to speak, not a recording artist. I love performance, and that is one of the things that initiated. My passion for performance is one of the reasons I studied creative arts from the University of Lagos. I would say that I’ve always had a thing, I’ve always had a passion and a penchant for music, not just music, live band music, because it just intrigues me how people take live band musicians, they take other people’s songs, it’s more or less like we’re doing a cover of other people’s songs and then we make it like our own original piece, and we deliver it in our style, in our way. And at the end of the day, the aim is to entertain your audience or your listeners, so they see that there’s still other ways they can enjoy a particular song, apart from the original singer or owner of the song. So it might be your course of performance, your style of performance, and your mood of delivery might be what would catch the fancy of your listener as a live band performance.
Why live band performance, why not recording artists, why did you go for live performances?
Like I said, I naturally love performance. So, even though recording artists still get to perform at events, I, as a live band performer, I just love to be on the stage, I love to be with the microphone, I love to be in front of an audience and perform and entertain them. So that doesn’t also mean that I cannot be a recording artist. For instance, I’m working towards having my song, say, maybe from this year. That’s a project I will look into this year, but that is not like my major, my core is the performance, so to speak. So, to your other question, I’m trying to remember.
What about copyright infringement, have you been flagged?
No. From the little knowledge I had, because I also did law from the University of Lagos, I did a bit of law, and there is no infringement as long as it is under the umbrella of live band performance. There’s no indication of that. For instance, I’m singing a Whitney Houston song, and I say, oh, this is my song, listen and enjoy, that would be wrong because everybody knows it isn’t mine. I could say I’m doing a piece from Whitney Houston’s collection. So that way, I’m giving an honorarium to the original owner of the song. And because live band is majorly for entertainment, so we also do not, under the law, we are not breaking any rules, because we are not coming to say, oh, this is my song. So that’s why even if you want to even record a live band performance, there’s also an indication of, okay, you’re just doing this song in your style. You’re just freestyling the cover of another person’s song. So there’s no infringement whatsoever.
JAYBLISS
The name, JayBliss, how did it come about?
JayBliss, JayBliss, JayBliss, JayBliss. When I was trying to carve a niche for myself, I said, okay, you know what? To have a stage name, I would not want something far from my name, and I would also not want to use my name as my stage name. So I thought of it, I had friends who used to address me or call me J, because my name is Joy, so J for Joy, so J. And if you look at bliss to B-L-I-S-S, the meaning of bliss is also joy. It means happiness, it means joy, it means excitement. So that’s how I came about, or I carved the name JayBliss.
JayBliss, tell your story? How has life been towards you, how far life has taken you as a female live performer?
My story is quite long. But in summary, my story has been a roller coaster. I would say my story; my life journey has been a roller coaster. But one thing that has been constant and has kept me going is life music. So I am from a family of five. I’m the last of five. I have three brothers and a sister. My father is late. My mom is well and doing fine. I graduated from the University of Lagos, Creative Arts Department, proudly. Proudly, yes. First of all, when I was growing up, I had always had the conviction that this was what I was going to do. I was sure of what I wanted to do. I was sure of my profession. I wasn’t confused at any point. I knew I wanted to do music and I knew I wanted to do live band music, but my family wanted otherwise. They wanted me to study law. So I got into the University of Lagos to study law. I did law for three years, honestly, I knew I just had to go after my passion. And here I am today and everybody is grateful for the decision I made. So just like I said from the start, my life has been a roller coaster, I’ve had my struggles. There were times when I was just starting, I was just trying to get a fan base. I was trying to break into the industry. It wasn’t so easy as a young, growing up lady. There are so many things, so many others, so many challenges you have to face, such as advances from men. You have to still be professional at your job. You have to deliver on the job. You have to source for clients. You have to do a whole lot. But you have to imagine a young lady like me, coordinating or leading about 10 grown men. Most, not even most, maybe all of them are older than me. It’s not been funny. Then as a contemporary female band owner, you know, there’s competition in the industry. There are bigger brands than myself, people have preferences. People have choices to make. So it’s just a whole lot combining life, and also running the business and trying to keep your head above the waters, especially in Nigeria, it has been a whole lot. And I would say in my journey so far, one event that, I would say, really shook me, if that’s the correct word, in a way, it broke me, it made me spring or shoot up, was the event of my dad’s demise, and that was in 2022. it’s been easy, it’s been very tough. And to now think that God helped me channel or turn my grief, because my dad is one person that I loved dearly, and when he passed on, he practically passed on in my arms and I’m the last of five, so you can imagine what I had to go through, I had to stay with him while he was ill and not just the loss of my dad, I had another major loss that same year and I was very broken. Yes, 2022 and I was very broken. But I now realize that God has never left me. So in all of this story, in summary, I just wanted to come back to the God factor. That’s where I was just trying to channel all of this. In all, I have been able to survive the others, the challenges, the struggles, everything just because God has been in my story. Because without him, I would not even be here, let alone to talk about JayBliss or to talk about how far I’ve come or to even make progress in any form. So I also want to use this as an opportunity or a medium to tell everybody or anybody that never let the God factor out of your life. Whatever you’re looking for, whatever you’re looking out to do, whatever you’re trying to do, as long as the God factor is involved in it, there’s somebody that will tell me if it’s God at the beginning, it will be good at the end. Honestly, there are a lot of things that are happening in my life today that, at a point, were prayer points. They were and when God would do it, they came with ease. They came with, oh no, I know the plan I had for you, I’m still going to execute it, you just hold on. So when I look back at how far I’ve come, I know that it can only be God. It’s not even by my strength, It’s not by my hard work. I know I work tirelessly. Sometimes my friends will tell me that I work almost like a man. Because I’m always out there. I’m always trying to get better, I’m always trying to be better at my craft, I’m trying to also live life as a young lady, you have other areas of your life, your love life, your spiritual life, your finances, Everything. In summary, God factor is the key thing about my journey through life or my journey so far. No other thing. Not my beauty, not my hard work, not my intelligence, no, none of it. So everything still channels back to the God factor. Sometimes I’m even too busy, I don’t pray, but you see the God factor is my mother. Let me make that point, because if I don’t make it. God would be angry at me. My mother stands in the gap for me. My mother stands in the gap for us, she prays day and night, every minute, every second, every hour, that’s why I will do anything I need to do to make her happy. I’m trying my best to do and God will help me through it.
Where do you see JayBlissBand in the next 10 years?
So maybe I should just mention that JayBliss is a brand. JayBlissBand is one of the branches of the brand, ‘JayBliss’. So, under JayBliss, we have JayBlissBand, we have JayBliss Clothing online, we have JayBlissEvents. Under the JayBlissEvents, we have JayBliss Ushering or Ushers. So, it’s safer to say it’s JayBliss Empire. So, in the next 10 years, I see my empire blooming. I see all of these businesses connecting and making waves in the industry, JayBlissBand, JayBliss Clothing, and JayBlissEvents with the help of God.
