MARIA JACKSON 27 MAGAZINE

Danielle Bailey at Book Launch A few Sundays ago we were fortunate to meet and sit down with Ontario based Gospel poet and author, Danielle Bailey. She had just released her third book entitled “Poetics – A Prophetic Poetry Devotional, On Life, Love, And Relationships To Help Keep You Spiritually Fit.” We met at the official book launch and got a chance to speak with her immediately after.

MJ Magazine: For those not familiar with you, please say; who is Danielle Bailey? And what inspired your book, “Poetics – A Prophetic Poetry Devotional, On Life, Love, And Relationships To Help Keep You Spiritually Fit”?

Danielle Bailey: Danielle Bailey is a down to earth, loving, prophetic, kind, organic, authentic, genuine, sincere, loving person, who wants nothing but the best for God’s people. I can’t stress that enough. As a minister in training, I love the Lord. I love God. I’ve been through a lot. I’ve seen a lot. I’ve endured a lot and I will prevail. I am prevailing. God is using me in a mighty way. He’s allowing me to reach and preach to His people, to encourage them to edify, to solidify that he is doing a wonderful work in me and mmm that’s who Danielle is. She is striving for greater. She is striving for greatness.

MJ Magazine: When and how did you get into poetry?

Danielle Bailey: I began writing poetry at the age of 12 years old. Why… it was incidental, it just happened. I had just finished writing a test for school, I had some spare time and I began writing.

MJ Magazine: What is the strongest strong hold that you’ve encountered and how did you deal with it?

Danielle Bailey: The strongest stronghold that I’ve encountered was family, truthfully

MJ Magazine: Your family? How, what happened? Elaborate

Danielle Bailey: With family you know it’s a… well everybody has family situations and so on so fort and because I love my family so much that there is a disconnect in a sense so it becomes my stronghold when there is trials and tribulation that I’m having to deal with … with regards to my family

MJ Magazine: When you say a disconnect, I don’t understand

Danielle Bailey: It’s not exactly how I picture family in my mind. It’s not the manifestation… so I believe that because of that my poetry is also powerful as a result of it

MJ Magazine: What I’m getting from you is that in your mind you’ve got a vision of what a family should be but the family that you have… the physical family is not matching that mental image that you have… am I reading that correctly?

Danielle Bailey: Sure

MJ Magazine: Can you give us a little bit more of maybe the image of a family that you’ve got in your mind verses what you have to deal with in real life?

Danielle Bailey: Family for me is community which could be anybody, really… but family in the sense of biologically speaking, but pertains to genetics and DNA and blood; I believe that it’s supposed to be love constantly. Yes I understand there is gonna be differences and opinions, I understand there is gonna be ups and downs, there is gonna be trials and tribulations, however, in my mind still I believe that it’s supposed to be smooth, love, caring, going out of way for each other. Things happen, life happen, circumstances, we all have our own lives yet still we make time for one another. We are routing for one another, we are guiding for one another, we have each other’s back without the shadow of a doubt

MJ Magazine: The image that you’re talking about is it your immediate family like your marital family or your biological family that you were brought up in?

Danielle Bailey: My biological family that I was brought up in

MJ Magazine: Next question; have you always been a Christian?

Danielle Bailey: I haven’t always been a Christian, no. But I’ve always been a believer since I was a little girl

MJ Magazine: What made you transition from a secular life to a Christian life?

Danielle Bailey: Truthfully God. He called me, he literally called me in the middle of the night, like he did Samuel and told me that I had to get baptized while I’m with child. That was in 2013

MJ Magazine: What made you decide to take that step, because it’s a massive step? What in secular terms were you going through that made you decided, you know what, I cannot keep going in this direction?

Danielle Bailey: I decided, well before I gave my life to God; it was, actually I was with my cousin Shamika, who is here today, and ah, she brought me to church with her with my aunt, my mother sister which is her mother… and invited me to go to church. Shortly after that I rededicated my life at the age of 25 to God. One night at church a pastor that was visiting from the U.S. said to me, “you are a prayer warrior.” And I never understood what that meant because I was still yet, you know, living in sin and darkness, I hadn’t yet come into the light of realization of who God is and how He’s going to manifest His entirety, His sublime self in my life. In layman terms, I knew I was on a path that was not leading me anywhere near or close to what God would have for me. I still have yet a ways to go; but to where I am today from where I was four years ago is much of a difference. I had to turn it all around. I knew that I wanted to serve God, I knew that I wanted to give my life to God, I knew that I always love God, even when I was in my sin I still made up saying I’m a writer, I’m a poet, I’m a song writer, I always sang, I was a worshipper. Even in my sin I worshipped God, and I knew that he was calling me. He was calling me and it was providence in 2013 when I almost lost my life on my parents wedding night.

MJ Magazine: You spoke about, just know, you touched on almost losing your life in 2013. Elaborate on that. How did you almost lose your life? How did it affect you? Talk to us about that.

Danielle Bailey: Without getting into specifics… a family member; I don’t know if it was rage, I don’t know if it was hate, I don’t know if it was jealousy, or I don’t know if it was the enemy, which it probably was… through those other vehicles or emotions or what have you, mmm attempted to run me over with a vehicle… mmm while I was sitting down attempting to get something out my shoe, something had poke me in my foot, I was getting it out. And they saw an opportunity I guess, is what they said and wanted to take it and attempted to run me over from behind while I was sitting on the curve with my back turned

MJ Magazine: Prior to that night did you have differences with that family member?

Danielle Bailey: We’ve had differences but it’s never been a difference on my part. I’m indifferent, I show love; I mean, if you don’t like me, ok, what you want me to do? You love me, great, that’s wonderful, I have love for you as well; so I’m indifferent in that sense but we’ve never had any issues in a sense of me having any problems with this individual but they’ve always had a problem with me, I just don’t know what it is.

MJ Magazine: Give anybody that’s going to be reading this a sense of who Danielle Bailey was before giving her life to God and why it is a good path to take

Danielle Bailey: I was always a lover of again, Christ, but I still was in my sin. There’s things that I’ve said, there’s things that I’ve done. I use to smoke weed, I use to drink alcohol, I use to go to parties, clubs… I even use to dance… I don’t really talk about that a lot.

MJ Magazine: Professional dancer?

Danielle Bailey: No, like exotic dancer. I’m not proud of it but it’s a part of my testimony nonetheless and I’m gonna be transparent about it… but that doesn’t make you any less useable, that doesn’t make you any less worthy of God’s grace… you know we are really, no one’s really worthy, but it just mean there is no amount of wrong that you can ever done in your past to make God love you any less or love you anymore for any good. Living the life that I was on, the path that I was on… wow I look back on the old me, although, she is, the old me is dead and gone, but she was lost, she was broken, I, the old Danielle didn’t really know who she was. I drank, I smoke, I experimented, with drugs even… it’s mmm ruff

MJ Magazine: Before you said someone invited you to church and that’s when you gave your life to God but with everything that you are saying now, was there ever a moment that made you say, hey this is too much now, I need to change?

Danielle Bailey: Absolutely, there definitely was a time in my life mmm in the past where I was doing a lot of those things even… and I just knew that this was not the life I’m supposed to be living, there’s got to be better for me out here. I can’t continue to do this anymore; getting high, you know I wanted to quit. Smoking weed, ye seem like it’s not as bad as the other drugs out there but nonetheless I knew that this is not who I wanted to be. When I was doing what I was doing I was sexually assaulted and I knew then that this, this is enough. I had to change my life; and so God began to really call on me and pull on me.

MJ Magazine: How did Uniquely Made Ministries International got started?

Danielle Bailey: UNQLY Made Ministries International got started just by me realizing that you know what I’m fearfully, wonderfully made… we are all different… you know many are called but few are chosen; but I have been chosen, for such a time as this to prophecy and to use my prophetic poetry, uniquely, and so UNQLY Made was born. It’s a word that God had laid in my heart that I need to start my own ministry and that UNQLY Made Ministry was it because I have unique voice, I have a unique mission, I have a unique testimony …

MJ Magazine: Where is the Ministry located?

Danielle Bailey: I believe in Matthew 28:18 when it says to go out in all nations and to baptize in His name and so it’s beyond the four walls. The ministry is right here right now

MJ Magazine: How do you know that the visions you are getting are prophetic? We interview so many people from so many Faiths and they tend to use that word a lot. So how do you know when it’s authentic?

Danielle Bailey: Much like mmm your mother; how do you know her voice? How do you know your friends voice? You spend time with them. When you spend time with those people then you know who they are. I can hear a laughter, a cry, a giggle and I know who that sound belongs to. Well I know when the Lord is speaking to me. I know when he is operating. I am very sensitive in the spirit and as a Prophetess that’s why I know when he is speaking to me.

MJ Magazine: What advice would you give to young women who are also dealing with strong holds, especially those in prostitution that maybe started from dancing?

Danielle Bailey: I want to tell them, you beautiful queens out there that, listen, you may have done some things, you might even still be doing some things but know that this is not the end of the road for you. There is greater for you out there. You are not so dirty that you cannot be used by God. There are no perfect people. You are going to make mistakes. You have a testimony; use that testimony to bring out somebody else from the muddy clay, bring somebody else out from the pit. My testimony, being in the situation where I was before with dancing, I mean I could have turned to prostitution myself… but I couldn’t even stand when I was in the club… I was in it for just a few months because I said this is not for me. So I left. They have to know that, you’re better than that, you know; you have a purpose. Greater is He that’s in me, than He that’s in the world. Whatever it is that you’re doing, what’s it really doing for you? I understand that you may not be in the church but God knows you. He knows every hair that’s on your head, He knows everything about you. He know that you’re gonna come out of this. You too need to know that you’re gonna come out of this and rise above your situation. This too shall pass.

Follow Danielle Bailey @poeticlifejustic

Donna Marie was born in the UK, although her formative years were spent in Jamaica. It was while living in Jamaica that she demonstrated her talent singing lead in her local Pentecostal Church choir. After leaving the choir she joined a band performing lead and backing vocals.

By 1989 Marie began recording as a soloist with the Pioneers, heralding her emergence in the UK as a lover’s rock singer. She released her first single, ‘On The Outside,’ which was a cover version of the theme to the Australian soap opera Prisoner Cell Block H. She then released four neglected albums with the group before concentrating on sessions with Delroy Wilson, which resulted in the enticing ‘Dance With Me.’

Marie maintained a credible profile within the industry for a number of years, including notable sessions with vocalist Don Campbell. By July 1994 her performance at the Intermezzo nightspot in London inspired Jeff Peart of the Boiler Room production team to sign the singer. With Peart and the crew she recorded “Now,” which featured the chart-topping song ‘Think Twice,’ a version of the Celine Dion hit. Marie’s interpretation of the song sold particularly well in South America, topped the Italian charts and held the number 1 position in the reggae charts.

In 1995 she continued to maintain a high profile, appearing alongside Bunny Wailer at his prestigious concert in Finsbury Park, London, as well as performing with Beres Hammond in the UK and Shabba Ranks in Jamaica. In 1997 Marie toured Brazil and other parts of South America, where her arrival was greeted with rapturous enthusiasm. She was featured on television shows, the streets were adorned with banners detailing her tour and her face appeared on the front of the daily nationals. The unprecedented welcome showed Donna Marie as the Queen of Reggae in South American eyes.