Today many upcoming artistes have a fallacy that for you to get known, your music has to be played on radio or TV.
But for the 'King of Kigooco' (King of Kikuyu Worship), Ngaruiya Junior, radio/TV is just one of the many laddars to stardom.
Ngaruiya Junior according to Kikuyu Musicians blog, shot to the limelight through singing in 'keshas' and funerals across Central Kenya.
"By the time Kikuyu radio stations knew me, I had already established myself in gospel music in Central Kenya. It is strange I got known from singing in 'maombolezi' (funeral wakes)," says Ngaruiya as quoted by Kikuyu Musicians blog.
The musician, now in his late 30s, is known for reviving traditional Kikuyu gospel praise songs by putting instruments on them and re-establishing their mainstream popularity.
As a result, his remixes have become so popular that they have eclipsed the original compositions.
That said, Ngaruiya's apparent deep passion in worshipping God through widely acclaimed music, has not always been the case.
While growing in Kwambira, Limuru, the musician was so laden with drug addictions, street life and rebellion that made him to quit school at class six.
Before he dropped out of school, the blog documents, he and other naughty boys would vandalize toilets, steal fruits from farms and even steal tithes and offerings from churches including that of his father who was a pastor.
It is after he was one day caught by his father stealing from his church that he ran away from home to become a 'chokoraa' in Nairobi where he would become bhang and glue addict while his meals were mainly from garbage dumps.
And as they say, the rest is history for Ngaruiya Junior is today known from his bright side and not the other one which had defined his childhood.