By Cecelia Campbell Livingston
Gospel recording artiste Letitia McDonald, who sings under the moniker Letitia Kaye, is passionate about her singing and also getting the message out in musical format.
For her, her voice is a tool to portray God’s goodness and to soothe battered souls. In an interview with Freedom Come Rain, she shared about the first time God came through big for her – although it took a while for her to really fulfil a promise she made to Him.
In May 2006 she lost her sight just one month after giving birth to her son.
“I told God that if He restored my sight, I would serve Him. I regained my sight a year later, despite being told by numerous doctors that I would never see again,” she revealed.
However, Letitia did not keep her promise right away, which led her to feel empty and out of place. A few years later, January 2013 to be exact, she started attending church once more, but it wasn’t until September the following year that she made a full commitment to the Lord.
A full time gospel singer and songwriter, Letitia started singing from the age of four at her local church in St Elizabeth. She strayed from the gospel in 1995 at the age of 17, going into secular music and recording her first single, ‘Hold Me Right’, a song produced by Trevor Jordon. She later joined a group called the Passionate Girls performing on the hotel circuit.
She left the group in 2005 to work a 9-to-5 job in the hotel industry, putting a pause on her music career.
After recommitting her life to the Lord, Letitia started writing gospel songs, releasing her first single in 2020, a song entitled ‘Fully Blessed’, which was produced in collaboration with Marcia Morris.
“The song won several awards, including New Artist of the Year at the G.A.D.T. International Gospel Awards and Best Reggae Song of 2022 at the Praise Ministry. I also released “Nothing Compares to You” from a compilation album produced by Favvor Zone Production,” she informed.
Presently Letitia is working on an album that she plans on self-producing and releasing this year.
Motivation and inspiration for her songs come from her own life experiences as well as the testimonies that have strengthened her faith in God.
Among the testimonies was an experience of being held up by three men at gunpoint. Sharing the experience, she said it happened one late evening while at a friend’s house.
“Someone called to inform us that a robbery was happening in the area. As soon as I stepped outside to go home, three men approached me and pushed a gun against my chest. Looking into their faces, I felt the urge to pray, and the Holy Spirit urged me not to pray for long. I removed the gun from my chest, laid my hands on the man, and said, ‘Lord, restore your son’,” she shared.
They didn’t do her any harm but instead asked her not to tell.
Looking back on that incident, she knew her story could have been different but for the Lord!
Born and raised in a small community called Carisbrook in St Elizabeth, she attended Carisbrook Primary School and Maggotty High School. She later moved to Kingston, where she attended the then Hatsome Music School, which was located at Duhaney Park, Kingston. The school no longer exists. While there she did song arrangements and voice training and studied skincare at the Face Place.
Since going full-time as a gospel artiste, Letitia has graced the stages across Jamaica at events such as Gospel Synergy, Walk with Your Praise, Old Harbour Praise Fest, and Sounds of Praise, to name a few.
Concerning her music, she said it is her hope that it will touch the lives of those who are considered unreachable, winning souls for the Kingdom.
Her ultimate goal, as she puts it, is, to “spread the gospel through my music.”
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