Much of the music business is built away from the stage.

While singers, bands and producers often receive the attention, live music depends on a wider group of people working behind the scenes. Someone has to bring the artists together, coordinate the moving parts, understand the audience, build the programme and make sure that an idea can become a real experience.

There are also people who create the spaces where those experiences happen.

For some music professionals, that work happens almost entirely behind the scenes. For others, the line between performer, organiser and creator becomes less clear. Chinenye Mbakwe increasingly sits in that space.

Mbakwe is a music and live events executive, live music producer and singer whose professional development has grown from performing as a backing vocalist into working across live music, festivals, artist coordination and event production.

Her route into the industry began in 2024, when she joined UK-based Afropop artist Great Adamz’s team as a backing vocalist. The role gave her direct experience of performing, rehearsing and working within a professional music team. But her involvement did not remain limited to the stage.

As she became more involved in the practical work around performances, Mbakwe began working with artists and teams on backstage coordination, event logistics, audience engagement and the wider delivery of live music projects.

That progression has allowed her to understand live music from both sides of the stage.

At Latitude Festival in 2025, she performed as a backing vocalist with Great Adamz on the BBC Introducing Stage while also supporting the wider team around the performance. Working within a major UK festival environment gave her experience of the timing, communication and coordination required to deliver a professional live appearance.

Her involvement at Music Barn Festival provided another example of this developing practice. Alongside performing as a backing vocalist, she supported activities around the artist’s performance, contributed to audience engagement and worked on interviews with artists and members of the audience.

These experiences have gradually moved Mbakwe towards a wider role in live music — one where performing is only one part of her involvement.

From Supporting Performances to Creating Them

The more significant development in Mbakwe’s career has been her movement towards curating and producing live music experiences.

That shift became particularly visible through Hearts & Harmony, a live music platform developed in Northampton.

The project was more than another performance date for an existing artist. It created a space where artists from different musical backgrounds could perform for a live audience while other creative professionals could contribute to the production and experience.

The event brought together musicians, dancers, photographers, videographers, media professionals, promoters and hospitality businesses. Mbakwe contributed to artist coordination, event planning and delivery, while also hosting the programme, introducing performers and engaging with the audience throughout the evening.

The result was a sold-out live event that gave artists an opportunity to perform in front of a wider Northampton audience while creating opportunities around the event for other people working in the creative economy.

This is where Mbakwe’s developing practice becomes particularly interesting.

She is not simply working around an artist’s career. She is beginning to create the platforms around which several artists and creative professionals can work.

That is a different responsibility.

A live music event has to bring together artists, audiences, venues, production, promotion, media and commercial partners. When done successfully, the performance becomes only one part of a much larger creative ecosystem.

Hearts & Harmony demonstrated Mbakwe’s ability to bring those different elements together.

It also created a platform for African music within Northampton while allowing audiences to experience different musical styles and giving emerging performers opportunities to reach people who may not otherwise have encountered their work.

For the creative professionals involved, the value extended beyond the stage. Photographers, videographers, dancers, promoters, media practitioners and hospitality businesses all became part of the wider live experience.

In that sense, Hearts & Harmony represents more than a single sold-out concert. It is an example of Mbakwe using live music to create opportunities for other people.

Recognition of a Developing Career

Mbakwe’s work has also begun receiving recognition beyond the individual artists and organisations with which she works.

In 2026, she received the Media Personality of the Year (Diaspora) Honorary Award at the Golden Stars Awards, recognising her contribution to entertainment media, African creatives and the wider creative industry.

She also received the Outstanding Contribution Towards African Artist Development in the Diaspora Honorary Award at the DAC International Awards, recognising her contribution to supporting African artists and developing opportunities within the diaspora.

Grateful to receive the DAC Int’l Awards – Outstanding Contribution Towards African Artist Development in the Diaspora (Honorary Award)🙏.

Thank you, Dr Adedoyin Ashiru, and the entire DAC team, for the recognition.

A reminder to keep building. We’re only getting started. 🥂✨ pic.twitter.com/rl5JtpPR3m

— Nenyembakwe ✨ (@nenyembakwe) August 15, 2026

These recognitions sit alongside her growing professional responsibilities and help illustrate the broader direction of her career.

Her work is no longer easily contained within one traditional industry title.

She is a singer and backing vocalist. She has worked at festivals. She has worked behind the scenes with artists. She coordinates live projects and contributes to event production. Through 99PLUZ Media Ltd, she also works across artist interviews, entertainment content and audience-facing media.

Her formal Tour & Artist Operations responsibilities with Great Adamz & The 99 Band, in collaboration with Radikal Records, are another part of that progression.

Rather than defining her career, the role reflects the practical experience she has gained from working directly within live music and understanding what artists and teams need to deliver performances successfully.

Building What Comes Next

There is now a clear direction emerging from these different experiences.

Mbakwe’s plans through 99PLUZ include developing online live-performance programmes where established and emerging artists and bands can perform for wider audiences. She also intends to continue developing physical live music events and creating spaces where artists and other creatives can meet, perform, collaborate and build professional relationships.

The ambition is not simply to organise more shows.

It is to develop platforms around music.

That means creating spaces where an artist can perform, an audience can discover something new, a photographer can build a portfolio, a videographer can find work, a promoter can develop a relationship, and other creatives can become part of the same ecosystem.

It is an ambitious direction, particularly in a UK live music environment where independent events face the constant challenge of building audiences, sustaining partnerships and maintaining financial and creative momentum.

Mbakwe has made a start.

The impact of Hearts & Harmony shows that she can bring artists, audiences and creative professionals together around a live music experience. The recognition she has received shows that her wider contribution is beginning to be noticed. Her continued work across festivals, live events, performance and artist-facing projects provides the foundation for what comes next.

The main challenge now is consistency.

Can Hearts & Harmony grow beyond one successful event? Can Mbakwe continue creating platforms that attract strong artists and audiences? Can she build the creative network around these events so that photographers, videographers, dancers, media professionals, promoters and other creatives continue to benefit?

Those are the questions that will shape the next stage of her career.

But they are questions that come after an important first step: she has already demonstrated that she can build a live music platform and bring people together around it.

Mbakwe remains an emerging professional, and it is too early to determine the full scale of her eventual influence. What is increasingly clear, however, is the direction of her work.

She entered the industry as a singer.

She has since moved into the work behind live music, gained experience at major festivals, helped coordinate performances, developed her own live platform and begun creating opportunities for other artists and creatives.

If she can maintain that momentum, the spaces she creates may ultimately become as important to her story as the performances she once stood on stage to deliver.