Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Askew.
Paul, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in one of the most crime-stricken areas in Jacksonville, Ken Knight. I would say I’m a success story; however, I had ups and downs fighting depression, substance abuse, and alcoholism. I was on American Idol who was on Broadway and accepted to the Julliard school of music.
Then an injury that almost saw me lose my leg and I didn’t walk for two years sent me into depression, suicide attempts, and drug abuse, and then I lost the core of my being my mom. I was on my way out. But my mom’s best friend, my life coach, Maryann Drayton has helped me do the work to get myself back. In November, I talked with God, and I knew he had work for me to do.
So I told him I surrendered. Have your way. I don’t know what to do. You will have to do it. I took the first step and gave it to him. I have a song called “Save Me” that entered the charts last week and is currently #8 on the Billboard Charts. The song is about my struggle and asking God to save me from myself. I have an album coming out on 6/24 called The Book of Paul on the anniversary of my mom’s passing under my label PaulPaul Music.
My mother called me PaulPaul because I’m named after my father. I now have my fashion line under Men Like Dave Mando, one of Nigeria’s Top fashion houses, with KingPaul’s collection. It’s the Paul Askew collection along with a full line of natural and holistic beauty care products for men. With beard and hair moisturizer along with my fragrance body butter shampoo conditioner body wash, and body scrubs. My KingPaul beauty products are sold under the Nuttabutta Beauty Boutique, a local distributor here in Jacksonville.
God has indeed been a force in my life. This is all from a young boy in a single-parent home who five family members molested as a kid. I went my whole life wondering if my mom would wake up due to her brain illness; which she had eight brain surgeries while I was in school.
It was hard, but God kept his hands on me. Now he has given me this job to help save other people. My mission is to show people God will never leave you, and he will bring you through anything you have to surrender to him.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road was not easy. The life I had, I should have been dead, crazy, in jail, or a problem to society; however, God had his hands on me. He kept me with people to support me, like my mom and sister Sherika, to protect and treat me like a king. When I was little, they deemed me KingPaul. They said I carried the aurora of a King. They loved me and treated me like one. They made me feel like someone loved me and often said don’t become a victim of my circumstances. My sister, to this day, still pushes me when I can’t fight any longer. The road wasn’t easy, but I had help walking down it from those two.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Never give up on yourself, trust God and be patient; troubles don’t last, always.
Contact Info:
- Website: Paulpaulmusic.com
- Instagram: @kingpaulaskew
- Facebook: PaulAskew Music
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCJIWC4JOm9sCsIF6jTJw_ZQ
- Yelp: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/paul-askew/1538495927
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0prvPO5rrR6tm1y1lFfaQA?si=RtnWX-xJSSyRgXTcTMfuLQ
