Nikeisha Toussaint

Michael Toussaint is a man with a plan.Owner of a limousine company in Toronto, Canada, he is investing heavily in his daughter’s singing career, with his eye on fulfilling her dream of becoming a world renowned entertainer.

His 20-year-old daughter, Nikeisha, already possesses one main ingredient: a powerful voice. Her father has provided and continues to provide other necessities: an opportunity for her to pursue her dream in Canada, guidance and a job. Toussaint is one of the drivers in her father’s company and also provides administrative duties, her father said during a visit to the Guardian.

Nikeisha grew up in Cascade with her mother, grandmother, cousins and aunts. Her mother, she said, recognised her singing talent when she was six.

“I used to sing anywhere. She got me in the choir in a church in Cascade, a Catholic church,” she recalled. Toussaint also participated in choir activities at Newtown Girls’ RC, Maraval. There she performed for several events, including the music festival.

At the age of 12, she emigrated to Canada to join her father, after he was told of her singing. Impressed with her skill, the senior Toussaint immediately began laying the foundation for her future.

“I enrolled her in the Conservatory of Music, where she did voice training. She learned modelling, I sent her to learn etiquette, do voice training. When she graduated from there, they wanted to send her to Las Vegas because they realised she could sing. I said no, she have (sic) to go to school, she must have something to fall back on,” her father said. Dad also enrolled her in the Air Cadets to develop more discipline and self-confidence. Toussaint is due to receive her pilot’s licence by year’s end.

When Toussaint’s father speaks about his daughter, with whom he made the media round while home on vacation, the pride is evident. “Career-wise she studies her head, she helps out a lot with the business and on weekends, she does her singing and her driving,” he said.

Despite her busy schedule, Toussaint is focused on her goal to become an international superstar. She is working on her first CD, a self-titled album which she will peddle to various record companies for a deal. Toussaint says her repertoire runs the gamut: R&B, soca, gospel, reggae and pop. This is evident on a promotional CD which she played for the Guardian.

The album contains three soca tunes: “Tabla Swing,” “Party Limers” and “Madness” as well as the R&B-flavoured “Changes” which commemorates 9/11, “I Believe in Love,” “Just Can’t stop my Love” and “I’m Steppin,’” which has a rap by Canadian rapper Mondae Knight. “I Believe in Love” is the first song Toussaint wrote and she sings the ballad with a voice reminiscent of Vanessa Williams. Toussaint’s themes centre mainly around love she said, although she’s never been in a relationship. “I Believe” has been receiving a lot of airplay on Canada’s first black urban radio station, Flow 93.5 FM, her father said. As Toussaint’s popularity grows in Toronto, so too the demand for the young beauty.

Nikeisha performs for a variety of events and has opened for Dorothy Moore, Percy Sledge, Beres Hammomd and Sugar Aloes. Toussaint performed at David Rudder’s 50th birthday concert. Prior to that, during the Easter weekend, she opened for Machel Montano in Canada.

“It was my second time performing with him. I opened before a crowd of 5,000 people,” she said. While in Trinidad, Toussaint recorded a soca tune with Montano at the Ed Gordon studio on Gordon Street. One of her dreams, she said, was to work with the talented soca star.

Toussaint’s biggest performance yet may come in the summer when she opens for Patti LaBelle. LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross and Anita Baker are among Toussaint’s favourites. Apart from singing, Toussaint has also had some success on the beauty scene.

She has been a contestant in the Miss West Indies International and Miss Ontario beauty pageants and won the Miss Black Ontario’s talent competition as well as the Miss Congeniality and Miss Entrepreneurship awards. Her advice to other young people dreaming of success? “Stick to your goals. It doesn’t matter where you are, just keep pushing yourself. By the grace of the Almighty Father, it will happen,” she said.