Kadie Kanneh-Mason reveals what it's like to raise the most talented family in Britain

Family snap of the kanneh-masons

Kadie Kanneh-Mason reveals what it’s been like mothering seven talented classical musicians (Image: Kanneh Masons / One World publications)

Stepping through the door of the home of the Kanneh-Mason family in a leafy Nottingham suburb, there’s no mistaking what’s special about this household. Dubbed “the most talented family in Britain” by Simon Cowell after five of seven siblings performed on Britain’s Got Talent in 2015, it’s clear they live and breathe music. I clock the pianos, violins and sheet music, the BBC Young Musician of the Year 2016 award, gold album discs and the family pictures dotted about the house. But something is missing. It’s quiet. 

“It’s weird isn’t it?” says Kadiatu – or Kadie as she’s called. “It’s silent. The house is empty. Lockdown has been noisy from six in the morning until midnight. There was always someone practising or talking really loudly to be heard. So today is quite magical and rare.” 

Now lockdown has eased, the older four, Isata, 24, Braimah, 22, Sheku, 21, and Konya, 20, have been set free. 

“One’s with his girlfriend in Amsterdam, one’s in London, the other with friends in Devon and another on a music course in Germany,” says Kadie. The three youngest girls, Jeneba, 18, Aminata, 14, and Mariatu, 11, are at home. 

“The girls are shopping for food for dinner tonight,” Kadie reveals. “We’ve been playing Come Dine With Me during lockdown where the kids have created these amazing meals. They’ve made three-course dinners with food I’ve never even heard of. The boys have done well, but then they’ve been phoning up their restaurant connections in London for tips.” 

So it seems this family could sweep the board on MasterChef, too. 

The words high achievers spring to mind – no one will forget her son Sheku’s breathtaking cello performance at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. 

The eldest sibling, Isata, studied at the The Royal Academy of Music on a scholarship funded by Sir Elton John and they’ve played at concert halls around the world, Royal Variety Shows and BAFTA ceremonies and have been the subject of TV documentaries. Kadie smiles while running through their musical CVs. 

The family on Britain's Got Talent

Simon Cowell dubbed them Briitain’s most talented family back when they auditioned in 2015 (Image: Kanneh Masons / One World publications)

“They are the ones who are doing it,” she says. “In fact, the old ones tell the young ones to practise. They’re all very close and encouraging. It’s very much a self-generating thing.” 

But according to her memoir, House Of Music: Raising The Kanneh-Masons, the story runs deeper. 

In it, Kadie charts her life from the early years, including her Welsh mum’s courtship and marriage with a West African student in 1963 followed by family life in rural Sierra Leone. 

She opens up about her mum Megan’s firm but fair parenting of her and her three siblings, losing her beloved father AB Kanneh when she was five and, consequently, a challenging childhood as a mixed-race girl in a small Welsh town. 

“At first, I really didn’t enjoy writing the book,” says Kadie. 

“I had to force myself to sit down. It was also emotionally difficult to write. I had to go back to the beginning, because how we brought up the kids wouldn’t have made sense. And some of those things I’d rather forget. I would hide myself away from the washing at the top of the house in my eldest son’s room, where it’s quiet, and spend days crying as I wrote everything down.”

“I was also writing it in a state of grief because some children were leaving home. And it was hard. I never liked it when any of them went off to university or academy. I’d just cry.” 

Kadie's parents

Kadie says her upbringing influenced the way she raised her own children (Image: Kanneh Masons / One World publications)

Grief is something Kadie talks about in the book. As well as losing her dad, she lost a friend as a teen and her grandparents. 

“You know, people always ask me, “Why seven kids?” I think it’s probably a response to grief. I thought if I could build a family and have a sense of home, everything would be OK. It was a bit like safety in numbers,” she laughs. 

Kadie also suffered five miscarriages. She reflects on her two losses during the two years the family lived in Bahrain in the Middle East. 

“Losing a baby to miscarriage is the worst thing in the world. It’s not a public stage of grief. You’ve got to carry on as normal. That was the hardest thing as I was grief-stricken each time, and you’re alone with it. But I’m really lucky because eventually I had another baby. In a way I could put that against the grief and get over it. But I feel for women who have miscarriages and then never have a baby.” 

Kadie makes no secret of the sacrifices she’s had to make, whether physical (pregnancy never agreed with her), career (she gave up her job as an English lecturer 21 years ago), or financial. She admits she couldn’t have done any of it without her risk-taker husband Stuart, whom she met at Southampton University at 20 and married in 1995. 

“We came from similar backgrounds, although he was brought up in the Caribbean, and we understood each other,” says Kadie. 

“Personality-wise he’s the opposite to me. He’s not shy at all and he’s very spontaneous. He looks at the bigger picture, whereas I focus on the small details. It’s quite a good combination.” 

Their own strict but fair upbringings set the foundations for their parenting style. 

Kadie and her husband Stuart on their wedding day

Kadie and her husband Stuart were on the same page from the very beginning (Image: Kanneh Masons / One World publications)

“I guess we were a bit abnormal,” Kadie shrugs. 

“We were fighting a wave. Stuart always said from the beginning he wouldn’t have his sons hanging around on street corners.”

“Of course, we’d let them go and play with their friends, but then it was home to practise, dinner and bed. Then, when they went to the Junior Academy at the Royal College of Music on Saturdays, we were up at 4.45am to catch the 6.20am train to London. If you’re training to be a classical musician, it’s a different kind of life. The fact they were all doing it together made it easier.” 

Was there ever any teenage rebellion? “Well, Sheku rebelled against the violin and played the cello,” she laughs. 

“Yes, of course, there was. And there’s been lots of hormones in the house, too. Year nine with the boys was hard, especially when Stuart was away with work. I think they needed him.”

“My mantra is what you spend you get back. There are moments when I’m taking the washing basket upstairs and I’m exhausted, and then I hear them playing music or talking to each other. That’s what keeps me going.” 

However, Kadie refuses to be labelled a supermum. 

“There’s no such thing as a natural mother or a supermum,” she insists. “I’m no domestic goddess. I’m a dreadful cook and can’t sew. But I loved getting involved with activities.” 

The children when they were younger

Kadie insists there’s no such thing as a “supermum” (Image: Kanneh Masons / One World publications)

The family is involved with highlighting the need for free music education in state schools. 

Sheku, who is to receive an MBE, in the New Year’s Honours list 2020, has said music “is something that should be available to everyone, regardless of background.” 

They are also passionate about the Black Lives Matter movement. “When George Floyd was killed we were all together in the house and we were absolutely floored,” Kadie says. 

“Sheku was incredibly quiet for about 10 days. It completely touched all of us. Racist cruelty is still out there.” 

The front door bangs closed – the three girls are back from the shops. So what does a mother-of-seven do with only a few children to look after and no meal to cook? 

“I’m always busy. It never stops,” she says. “But if I had all the time to myself again? I’d clear the house and get it in order before sitting down to read a good book, my first passion. I read the other day that Michael Morpurgo didn’t start writing until later in his forties, so maybe there’s still another life in me yet.” 

House Of Music: Raising The Kanneh-Masons (Oneworld, £18.99) is out now. To order, see Express Bookshop on page 69. 

source: express.co.uk