Pabi Cooper On What Motivated Her To Start Music Besides Having A Music Background.Born Paballo Mothapo, Cooper started out as a dancer who performed at small scale concerts. Despite being noted as an entertaining dancer, the multi-talented musician believed there was more to her as a performer than just dancing.
In high school, Cooper was a part of the choir and although she had a great singing voice, she would ditch choir practice for soccer referee lessons, that’s how she knew her love for the sport wasn’t just a phase.“I come from a family of soccer fans, so that to me was more exciting than singing.”My grandmother supports Kaizer Chiefs and I support Orlando Pirates. We used to watch soccer on Saturdays and she would teach me what an offsite meant and the rules of the game. Soccer has been my outlet since I was young,” she said.
“I began my career as a football player and a referee, the Covid-19 pandemic, however, forced me to choose between waiting for football to resume after the lockdown limitations or doing something different, that’s where my musical journey began. I started off as a dancer, and then one random day I decided to go to studio and then that’s when record my debut hit single “Isphithipithi”. Hearing my craft and the feedback I received from my friends, family and my supporters really cemented me in music, my consistency as well helped build my confidence.”
The pandemic hit at a time the star was ready to launch her soccer career, however, the hard knock left Cooper scratching the surface of some of her talents that have solidified her in becoming the star she is today. With that said, Cooper vows to still pursue both her music and soccer careers, as she merges the best of her both worlds. “Yes, my music career might be peaking to an upper level but one thing I will make sure of regarding my career is to be involved in African football as a match official – my passion for soccer won’t be clouded by my music career. But now that I am in the music industry, I am working on ways of how to incorporate me being a professional referee into my music. I mean, I sometimes dress like a referee when I perform and in my music videos,” she said.
