Sol Generation artiste Bensoul says he once thought he had contracted HIV-Aids but later found out it was tuberculosis after several tests.
Talking on their new reality show, 'Sol Family' on Sunday, the 'Lucy' hitmaker said he had been ailing for a while.
"We wrote the song 'El Shaddai' in Rongai. This is after I had coughed for about a month and I wondered what the problem was.," he said.
"I went to test for HIV-Aids because I felt like I had all the symptoms. Sometimes you feel like life is ending but I tested negative.
"They found out it was TB and every single day, you eat food for like two people."
Bensoul's mother narrated how she searched for doctors.
"I didn't see the body, I only saw bones. I went crazy and I left him to go look for doctors and at the time, they were on strike," she said.
Lucy, the singer's sister, was emotional in describing the state of her brother at the time.
"He couldn't sit on a chair without sponge because of the bones. He was very weak," she said.
After two weeks, Bensoul recovered but felt pessimistic about his career.
"I nearly gave up on music. I woke up one morning and gave out all my good songs," the singer said.
The singer has been raised by a single mother after their father abandoned them for refusing to convert to Islam. He was also a lover of music.
"My dad was a musician who sang in choir. He tried to stop me from doing music but it was in me since I was three years old," he said.
"Our pastor was happy about my calling to do music. I remember he told me education would not do as much as music is about to do for me."
Bensoul did civil engineering at Technical University of Kenya but dropped out in his last year of study. He has for the longest time been a bass guitarist for H_art the Band before joining the Sauti Sol-owned record label.
Bien described Bensoul as a miracle child, who is "going to be the biggest African artiste. I believe it 100 per cent".
