Qhairo grew up in East London as the youngest child of a large Caribbean family whose extended relatives are scattered through Newham. His early musical influences are vast. In his formative years, Qhairo remembers his father flooding the house with a variety of tones: Reggae artists like Buju Banton and Bunny Wailer and golden era Hip Hop like the Fugees and Mary J Blige.

As a teen Qhairo had started writing songs of his own, inspired by the Reggae of his youth, the R&B from his brothers bootleg CD’s and the vocals of American musicians like Usher and Lauryn Hill. In his spare time he would spend afternoons and evenings at a youth club in Stratford called Urban Development where he learnt to write and record songs, first by penning vocals for local MCs and rappers. Eventually he progressed to songs of his own, some of which would win local competitions and were played on cult Pirate radio station Rinse FM.

Up next for Qhairo is a four-song EP titled ‘60FOOTNOIR’ The songs are a candid and angsty reflection of the confusion he felt growing up, a brutally honest insight into a man, now 27, looking into his blackness, his queerness and his wider identity. “The EP describes my adolescence,” he says, “and my struggles with becoming my authentic self"

Qhairo lays his truth bare. His music is a bristling listen, a cocktail of adolescent angst and longing that cannot be pinned to genre. It’s set Qhairo up for an exciting career.