On Sunday, June 1st, 2025, I was seated in a space at Dawadawa in Osu, a neighborhood in Accra, waiting for a music event to commence.
Usually, my Sundays are very chill and uneventful. But that day, I was personally invited to be part of the occasion.
The event was organised by Songs In Conversation, an event curator that features stripped-down musical experiences.
That headliner was none other than the dynamic and popular musician Ria Boss.
I had never seen Ria perform live, but the reviews about her in-person performances on social media were always glowing.
Throughout the evening, she performed songs from her lengthy musical catalog. Close to the end, she previewed new music from her upcoming EP, much to the delight of the audience.
I’d been trying to interview Ria Boss for the past couple of weeks. But scheduling conflicts, including rescheduling a physical meet-up due to Ria dealing with a throat infection, delayed the writing and publication of this article.
Fortunately, we finally scheduled an interview online on a day when our calendars synced up.
Maria Emmanuelle Grace Bossman-Damiba, or as everyone calls her “Ria Boss”, is a myriad of things – a singer, songwriter, and cultural curator.
Born in London to a Ghanaian mother and a Burkinabe father, Ria was mostly raised by her mother. She would later move to Accra at the age of seven to live with her grandmother.
She was exposed to a lot of creative activities growing up, which she credits to her mom.
“I was doing ballet, tap dancing, modern dancing. I mean, my mom was like, do everything,” Ria said.
The same exposure applied to different music genres she listened to growing up.
“A lot of my musical DNA comes from my mom. She used to play a lot of Motown, a lot of Michael Jackson, a lot of Stevie Wonder, Fitzgerald, Nina Simone. She introduced me to D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, and Lauryn Hill.”
Unsurprisingly, Ria’s vocal talent was discovered during a car ride with her mom, as she passionately sang along to songs from the movie “Annie”.
“Maria, you have a very true voice“, Ria recalled what her mother said when she was delivering a musical number from the film.
The journey to Ria’s eventual music career would take her from SOS-Hermann Gmeiner International College (HGIC) in Tema, Ghana, to New York City in the US, where she obtained her degree in media management at the New School’s Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts.
After New York, she relocated to Los Angeles, enrolling at the Musicians Institute to undertake an independent artist management program.
Although she enjoyed her time there, Ria was homesick and made plans to move back to Ghana.
“Los Angeles is probably one of my favorite cities in the world, but I think maybe my move was premature, at least in hindsight,” she said.
“I think I was super homesick, and I really missed my grandmother. And something was just like, go home, go home“.
But there was another reason for Ria’s trip back to Ghana: Donald Trump.
“They had also just elected Trump, and I was just not in the mood,” she said about Donald Trump’s surprising presidential win in America’s 2016 election.
Her return in 2017 allowed Ria to spend time with her grandmother in her final years before passing away in 2020.
That same year, in 2017, Ria released her debut EP, “Find Your Free,” a deeply personal project that resonated with a lot of listeners and put her in the spotlight.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction. Like it was such a great response,” she said on the glowing reviews of the EP.
After the release, Ria garnered a lot of attention from different personalities in the industry. One such personality was Efya, a popular Ghanaian musician, who Ria says has become a great friend.
“I really respect Efya. She’s a peer and a friend. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever had,” she said of her relationship with the popular vocalist.
But the biggest attention was from Michaela Coel, the British-Ghanaian actress, who would later feature one of Ria’s songs in her critically acclaimed show “I May Destroy You” in 2020.
“Funny enough, it was a song that I hadn’t even released on iTunes yet. It was only on SoundCloud,” Ria said on the song being added to Michaela’s show.
“I was quite surprised and really flattered that it was the one they chose because I didn’t even think it was one of my favourite pieces because it surrounds trauma.
The fact that I wrote that song during a time when I was actually going through some of the worst moments of my life, and Michaela (Coel) resonated with the song and then chose it for a scene in the show was pretty powerful and exciting.”
Ria has since gone on to release several EPs, including her first album, “Remember”, in 2022.
She’s also been on stage with popular local acts, including KIDI and M.anifest, and has performed at major events, including the Black Star International Film Festival.
Her influence has gone far beyond music and the studio. Ria has also devoted her time and energy to Ghana’s creative community.
She regularly puts in time and effort helping out Black Girls Glow, a non-profit organization that fosters collaboration and leadership development among women and non-binary artists in the creative arts.
Another project, which was built from the ground up, is the “Ria Boss Open Mic“, a platform for artists to showcase their talents in front of a live audience.
Ria credits the idea for the platform to Pamm Takyiwaa, founder of Jane Can Do, and Ria’s business partner.
They met during their time at one of the Black Girls’ Glow residencies and have been close ever since.
“We were actually roomed together, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. She’s an amazing cultural curator, event designer as well. And so it made sense for us to co-found Ria Boss Open Mic together.”
Pamm, who at the time had shifted my focus toward more community-led and community-centered initiatives, described her and Ria’s affinity for community-based work.
“It’s work that demands a particular way of seeing and engaging with people,” Pamm said in an email about working with Ria.
“Ria has always operated through that very lens, so our connection was immediate, blossoming effortlessly into sisterhood and friendship.
Pamm also praised Ria’s work ethic and dedication to the people around her and the project she takes on.
“Whether she’s building ‘Kitty Palace’ [A co-working and co-creating hub] or co-creating the Ria Boss Open Mic, she approaches every endeavor with infectious joy and a genuine commitment to uplifting others—a small glimpse of the warmth and generosity that define her beyond work.”
But as Ria continues to achieve success and grow her brand locally, some of her fellow artists have risen to new international heights in their careers.
Amaarae, the Brooklyn-born Ghanaian musician, became the first Ghanaian artist to perform at Coachella in May this year.
Another artist, Moliy, became a sensation after her song, “Shake It To The Max“, went viral. The song got her invited to the BET Awards, where she became the first Ghanaian artist to perform at the event.
“I think that I’m a fantastic artist. But I think that being in the music business and being an artist, a lot of the job is also in the marketing.“
Image Credit: Ria Boss
Although Ria has had her fair share of success, including a co-sign from Michaela Cole, I asked if her focus on Ghana might have hindered her growth internationally.
“I think about this often,” she said. “I do think that there’s sort of an added benefit of dipping in both sides”.
“But I also think that I probably should be doing more on the marketing end of things. I think that I’m a fantastic artist,” she added.
She acknowledges that she needs to focus on pushing herself more.
“I’m working on new material now, and the focus is on being able to push it as far and wide as possible. My niche here in Accra is beautiful, and I love it. But I do want it to be more global.”
When she’s not working on music or other side projects, Ria spends most of her time at home with her cats, describing herself as a “homebody” rather than an extrovert.
We discussed her relationship status and navigating the current dating climate.
She says she’s currently living the single life but is open to dating someone who fits the mold and is a cat person, like herself.
However, one thing that’s non-negotiable for her preferred dating partner is compassion and empathy.
“I feel like that’s something you would say, it’s like, ‘duh’. But then you go out into the world, you scroll on your (X) timeline, and you realize that a lot of people are lacking in those things,” she explained.
Although she’s in her early 30s, Ria isn’t focused too much on big life milestones like marriage or starting a family – especially after she reflects on the time she lost a child through miscarriage.
“I think by now I would have been married if all of that hadn’t happened,” she said, reflecting on the loss.
“I think my life might have gone in a different direction, not that it would have gone in a different direction musically, but perhaps I would have already been married and had kids.”
For now, Ria is more focused on living in the moment.
“I am pretty much tied to the moment right now where I’m not necessarily putting too much emphasis on it. I think that if it comes, it comes, and I think I’ll be happy about it.
I’m still content with the person I am and the life that I’m building.”
Ria’s plate is currently full with major events and future milestones.
She’s preparing for a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in France in January 2026, where she’ll start work on her next album.
After a two-year hiatus, she’s also working on reviving her headline show, Cat Mama World.
At the time of this writing, Ria would have wrapped up work on the new Black Girls Glow Residency, “Koshka Residency” in Accra.
On the music front, Ria says she’s working on her upcoming EP, which she hopes to release around her birthday in November.
(She recently released a three-track EP called “The Waiting Room“)
Ria said the new upcoming project blends live and produced sounds. She’s also collaborating with producers she describes as “really interesting.”
“This is going to be a little bit different,” she said.
“The sound is fun. I’m like, having a lot of fun. So I’m excited for how my fans are going to take it.”
