Ice Prince, Panshak Henri Zamani was born in the city of Minna, Niger State, Nigeria, in 1986. At age two, he moved with his family to the mining city of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. While residing in Jos, he attended St. Murumba College, the same school that produced P-Square, Mikel Obi, and the Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda among others. He also attended the Science Tutorial College in Jos.
Musical Discovery
Music came natural to Ice Prince. In 1998, he began to write rap songs, performing them at school social events, while slowly nurturing his budding talent. But it wasn’t until 2001 that he got a taste of recording in a music studio.
In 2002, the young Ice Prince and a couple of friends got together to form a group called Ecomog Squad.
“ I started out in Jos in a group called ECOMOG squad. We used to rap and sing together. The group split up after a few years and after that, I joined the choir in my church and started singing Tenor. That was about the time MI moved back to Nigeria and we became friends, we became family, we started living together, started making music together. I had a song that made it to Number 1 in Jos, that was when I started getting more attention. Then I got admitted into University of Jos to study Zoology but then I couldn’t really continue because of some financial constraint at the time.” A reflective Ice Prince said in an interview with Adeola Adeyemo.
Ice Prince lost his Dad during his first year in college. He had to drop out of the University to focus on music, and make ends meet.
“I wasn’t born with a silver spoon,” Ice Prince revealed.
“My dad was not a billionaire, neither was he a pauper. He sent us to good schools and we had vacations outside the country; we were okay but in 1999 I lost him.
“He was a soldier, “he taught me everything I know today. My mum was very supportive but she died in 2011, so right now I am an orphan.”
“It feels lonely. We were three kids; a boy and two girls and I am the eldest. I became the man of the house after my dad passed on and that has given me a sense of responsibility. It made me grow up overnight”
Then came Chocolate City. Ice Prince was signed to the label after M.I, and Jesse Jagz.
“My record deal with Chocolate City came off of my affiliation with MI and Jesse Jagz. We are pretty much brothers, we’ve always lived together, always been together. But then Chocolate City signed MI first. It was like they did it in order of our age. Then they signed Jesse Jagz. Jesse was obviously more ready than I was at that time. Then they saw that I was getting ready as well and they signed me too.”
In 2009, Ice Prince participated in the Hennessy Artistry competition, a competition organized by the Hennessy brand which supports urban and contemporary music. The competition featured the likes ofBez, Mo’cheddah, Blaise, and Jimmy Flames; Ice Prince came out 1st with his lead single “Badman” at the end of the competition.
Between 2010 and 2010, Ice Prince dropped his debut album, “Everybody Loves Ice Prince”. “Oleku”, a song off the album quickly won led the charge, winning the hearts of all Nigerians. Since after the album, Ice Prince has grown into a genuine leader of African Entertainment.
In 2012, he began frequent collaborations with Grip Boiz City producer Chopstix, releasing “Aboki“ in the summer of 2012. On August 28, 2012, Ice Prince released “More“, the second single from his second studio album, Fire of Zamani (FOZ). The song was also produced by Chopstix. The music video for “More” was shot and directed in London by Moe Musa. The video premiered at the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards, an awards ceremony he co-hosted.
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