Angel Maxine Opoku is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...

. Maxine is known as the first openly transgender Ghanaian musician.

Early life and education

Raised in the coastal city of

Tema Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most po ...

, Maxine says that her home was "deeply religious and musical" and was where she took to music at a young age. She attended the Ghana Secondary School in Koforidua for her senior high school education and later the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the B ...

for a food safety and nutrition degree. She later attended the

Regional Maritime University The Regional Maritime University (RMU) is an international tertiary institution and private university in Accra, Ghana. It attained full university status on 25 October 2007 and was launched as such by John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of t ...

. Angel grew up in the coastal city of Tema, as the daughter of a reverend and a prophetess.

Music career

Angel started her music career in 2020 with her first single titled ''Sweetness (D3d33d3)''. She later went on to release ''Wo Fie'' which featured Wanlov the Kubolor and

Sister Deborah Deborah Owusu-Bonsu (born 25 August 1984) better known by her stage name as Sister Derby or Sister Deborah is a Ghanaian-Romanian television presenter, musician and model of Akan origin and a former presenter at e.tv Ghana. Early life and edu ...

and then ''Kill The Bill'' in 2021. Her song ''Kill The Bill'' is a campaign song against the new

Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill The Ghanaian anti-LGBT bill (formally the ''Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill'') is a proposed law in Ghana that would introduce wide-ranging restrictions on LGBT+ rights. The bill was approved by the Parliament of Ghana on 28 Februar ...

. Her latest single, titled "Prep" is a song about a medication which prevents you from contracting

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

. It was released on November 30, 2022.

Activism

Angel Maxine is an open advocate for LGBT+ rights in Ghana and has been vocal about her rejection of the proposed

which is before the

Parliament of Ghana The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana. History Legislative representation in Ghana dates back to 1850, when the country was a British colony known as Gold Coast. The body, called the Legislative Council ...

as of July 2022.

Discography

Singles

References

Living people 21st-century Ghanaian musicians Year of birth missing (living people) Transgender women musicians 21st-century LGBT people LGBT in Ghana Ghanaian LGBT people {{Ghana-bio-stub