Photography: Mataara Stokes.
When rapper Kingdon “Kings” Chapple-Wilson could no longer pick up his daughter Vali without panting, he knew he needed to get healthy.
The realisation that prompted him to lose a mind-blowing 97kg and adopt a wellness regime now sees him working out with Vali, 16, and continuing to better himself as a dad.
“She’s the anchor to my mission,” the Auckland chart-topper, 36, tells Woman’s Day.
“If I can be the best version of myself, and inspire her and others, that’s mean.”
It was also Vali who motivated Kings – who is of Ngāi Tūhoe, Te Arawa and Samoan descent – to get off Jobseeker support and pursue music professionally.
Finding his rhythm and purpose
Having inherited his talent from grandfather Arnold and dad Anthony, who were both in bands, Kings was playing “drums” with pots and pans at age seven. While he knew he had a flair for rhythm, he never fathomed it could launch a music career.
“Even now it doesn’t seem realistic!” he admits.
“But I loved it and was creating every day. I made a beat a day for two years – writing, mixing, mastering and producing. I did my 10,000 hours!”
At 19, Kings became primary caregiver to Vali.
“Her mum and I were too young, and didn’t have the tools to parent together,” says Kings.
“I didn’t want to lose my daughter, so we decided it’s best I have her.”
Finding purpose in fatherhood
Having gone through his parents’ divorce at a young age, Kings wanted to give Vali stability. The early days were a blur of late nights, nappies and formula. It was three months before he grasped the overwhelming love he felt.
He recalls, “When the baby comes out, they’re buzzy looking, so at first, it’s like, ‘What’s this playdough thing in my hand?’ Then I had this wow moment.”
His daughter’s arrival made him “take music seriously” to provide for her.
“Once I had Vali, I had reason outside of myself to push with my music.”
When Success Came With a Cost
With his parents and step-mum caring for Vali while he travelled for work, his efforts paid off when his 2016 single Don’t Worry ’Bout It became New Zealand’s longest-running number-one song. However, navigating fame was difficult. Kings turned to food, and the relationship between kai and his cultures.
“We eat when we have tangi, when we say hello and when we celebrate,” he says.
“Saying no to food is disrespectful. That mixed with hitting fame so fast while being a solo dad was hard. Food was my way of coping. I’d eat before shows, after shows, at celebrations… But I’m glad it wasn’t drugs or alcohol I turned to.”
The turning point
Unhealthy eating saw his weight rocket to 202kg.
“Most scales max at 190kg. It would loop around and I’d have to do maths! I felt big but didn’t see it visually until I started struggling to pick up Vali and felt constantly tired.”
While Kings initially lost weight following a low-carb keto diet, he regained it as soon as he stopped. So in 2018, he underwent gastric sleeve surgery. The life-changing procedure, which shrinks the stomach to restrict food intake, ignited a mental and physical transformation.
“I just felt good,” he tells.
“I could see my toes, jump more on stage and my confidence skyrocketed.”
It took two years, but he now fluctuates between 105 and 108kg. His days start and end with a workout, and he has adopted skincare routines and meditation.
Turning heartbreak into art
Although his latest weight loss has prompted followers to declare he has a “break-up glow” following his split from Kiwi musician Ella Monnery, Kings points out he has been working on his body for years.
The split inspired his first new album in five years, during which Kings has been producing music for Hori Shaw and Stan Walker. Writing through heartache was therapeutic.
“She hates the album!” he jokes.
“No, she doesn’t, but she laughed at it. There’s no bad blood.”
Now happily single, he enthuses, “I love love, but for the first time, I’m trying to stay single and love myself. I’ve got to figure out what makes me tick and why I am how I am.”
Until then, he has Vali, who performed backing vocals on the reggae track Let You Go.
Kings says, “Being in the studio with her was so cool! She’d sing flat, then go, ‘Let me try again’, until she figured it out. She’s just like me – headstrong, unruly, clever and defiant. We’re best friends.”
Kings’ new album, She Might Not Call Me Back After This, is out now.
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