Nofo Lameko isn’t upset about becoming the second contestant eliminated from The X Factor NZ. “I was relieved,” he tells Woman’s Day. “It’s been a good ride, but it’s just gonna keep going up from here. I’ve got some shows lined up already. I’m gonna be a full-time muso and put bread on the table.”
Though the hit TV3 show often referred to his homelessness, the truth is, the 24-year-old wasn’t sleeping rough under the stars. As a touring musician, Nofo was simply travelling too much to set up a base in his hometown of Wellington, where he slept on his friends’ couches.
However, while Nofo is now staying with his parents in Auckland, he tells us since his time on X Factor came to a close, he’s found a flat back in Welly and he can’t wait to move back there, so he can be closer to his kids, six-year-old “stepson” Levi and four-year-old daughter Lyla.
Levi was just eight months when Nofo was introduced to the boy’s mother, Lana, and rather than being put off by her having a new baby, the Tuvalu-born singer says he was instantly smitten. “I fell for her straight away and I love kids,” he explains. “When I was flirting with her, I told her we would have 15 kids! I come from a family where we always have kids around. It makes me feel like being a kid again. I like big families.”
Soon an item, Nofo and Lana then had their own child, daughter Lyla, with Nofo in the pool with his girlfriend throughout the water birth. “It was powerful,” he recalls. “Every time Lana had a contraction, I would rub her back. Then when the baby came out, I thought she was drowning, but it was all good and I got to cut the umbilical cord, even though the scissors were blunt and it took a few goes.”
He then got to hold Lyla skin-to-skin and sung her one of his favourite tunes, “So High” by John Legend. “That song is very special to me,” says Nofo. “I was crying while singing to her.”
With that moment, something shifted in him, Nofo confesses. “I used to be a rebel, but as soon as I had my daughter, my mind-set changed. I finally understood where my parents were coming from. Me and my parents are really close now. I don’t hide anything from them any more and it’s all because of me becoming a father myself.”
Unfortunately, Nofo and Lana split last September. “S*** happens,” he says. “It wasn’t healthy and we needed to take a break, but I still love her to this day.” He hopes they will eventually reunite. “She came up with the kids for a live show and she’s pretty stoked with where I got to, but I’ll leave it to chance. I don’t want to fall in love with anyone else, so if it’s meant to be, it will.”
Whenever he’s back in Wellington, the first thing he does is visit Levi and Lyla. “They’re always happy to see me,” he says, “and I always feel complete when I’m with them. I missed both their birthdays for the first time this year because I was busy gigging and I don’t want it to happen again. I’m chasing the dream, but I’d cancel everything I have for them.”
See this week’s Woman’s Day for more on Nofo.
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