Meet Merqury: The anchor of Soundcity Top 10 Ghana

It took seeing this eye ball to eye ball to believe that his show was produced in Ghana. When I finally caught up with him for this story, I thanked God because our meeting had been scheduled and rescheduled. He had a phone call almost every 3 minutes in the course of our conversation. He is a hot chap.

Those of you have already fallen in love with this wonderful presenter who has made Friday TV very refreshing, already, now have an opportunity to know more about him.

He is the anchor of the first ever music video chart program on TV in Ghana, Soundcity Top Ten Ghana. His program, only three months old, has won the hearts of many, including critics, across Ghana and is still winning more. His signature tune, ‘Prrra’, has become a keyword on the lips of many in most schools and homes across Ghana.

Born on the 16th of September 1981, Merqury Quaye, a chap of many parts, became eminent in the Ghana showbiz pool in 1997 when he started rapping on Funworld, a weekly entertainment variety show organized by the National Theatre of Ghana, aired on Ghana Television, with popular Ghanaian hip life artists including Abortion (4*4 fame), Tinny, Ronny Coaches, Tic Tac and Ex-doe.

Whilst doing his Secondary Education at Ebenezer Senior High School, Merqury who was then a delegate of the United Nations Students Association decided to measure his strengths in administration. After enormous scrutiny, he got the nod of delegates to become the Vice President for the Association (Greater Accra region) in 1998.

After his Secondary Education it became obvious that Merq was cut for showbiz. As a response to that call, Merqury took to DJing and started spinning wheels for Black Soundz and later joined Media Shuttle Entertainment, an Event organizing firm based in Accra as a DJ for a couple of months. After playing at parties and several other ceremonies for some time, Merqury decided to take it to the Night Club and started playing in Bengy’s Night Club as the resident Dj.

Whilst doing these, he enrolled at Trans Africa College and acquired knowledge to attain an ICM Diploma in Broadcast Journalism. The Radio Broadcast Development foundation was Merqury’s next educational unit after which he took some courses online in Music Production and Sound Engineering. He joined Tic Tac’s TN Records as DJ and later was named publicist and Special Assistant to the ‘Most Wanted’, Tic Tac, in 2006.

Merqury has performed live on stage with Tic Tac, as DJ or hypeman, at several functions including the Soundcity Music Video Awards at the Muson Centre in Lagos, Nigeria, Oswald Boateng’s Fashion Africa at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Ghana, The MTN Launch Concert featuring Shaggy( at the Accra International Conference Center and the Trade Fair site respectively), Nescafe African Revelation, the MTN Go Africa Concert at the Independence Square in Ghana and many others.

A stickler for order, Merqury has not down-played Journalism. He has, as freelancer, written several articles for the Daily Guide, Modern Ghana.com, Weekly Fylla newspaper and Ghana Music.com.

He has also been an MC at several social functions including the launching of “Home Grown”, a documentary on how far Hip life as a music genre has come and the impact it has made on the Ghana Music Industry. Merqury has as well anchored an entertainment programme dubbed the “Exhibit A Show” on Metro TV.

Merqury, also known as the Beatmaster, has produced several radio and TV commercials as well as beats for some music artists including Tic Tac, V. I. P., Mzbell, OD 4, Shadow (Liberia), Adam and a number of underground cats. He has also produced and recorded music compilations for several high schools in Ghana including Pope John Senior High, Adisadel College and Anum Senior High.

Versatile Merq has also given a shot at acting in “Hotel St. James”, “Friday Night” (a Van Vicker Film) and “A Promise to keep”, a TV serial.

Merqury has also interviewed big names like Denle Momoude (Ovation Magazine), Baffour Gyan (Ghana Black Stars), Kiesha White (UK Artiste), Ofori Amponsah (Highlife Artiste), Faze (Nigeria) and several others.

Asked for his last words, this is what he had to say “I first of all want to say Prra to my fans, especially all the ladies in every hood and every block across Ghana. Thanks for the support. To Ghanaian music artists; please invest in quality video productions because that’s what represents you wherever. I also wanna say thanks to Tic Tac, Mr Theo Akatugba, ma family, Vivian Scott, Nneka Oboli, Idris, Bright, Leboo for the support. PRRA!! PRRA!!!!!”

Catch Merqury on GTV this and every Friday at 11:05 am as he counts down the ten hottest videos in Ghana. Just say PRRRA!