I was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979. I have a brother and two sisters. I'm the eldest. We moved to the UK when I was four. African culture is such that music and dance are very, very strong. From a young age, everyone sings, everyone dances. My dad played the bongo drums. He's a doctor as well. My mum did a lot of African dancing as a child. My sisters studied law - Dilys never actually practised, she quit and became a singer. My other sister practised law for seven years but later set up a music and dance school for children. My brother is a computer engineer but he does stand-up comedy. They all live in London. We moved to Barnet, London, because there's more political stability. My parents thought it would be a better future for us. Nigeria wasn't the safest place. There'd just been a civil war.

Dad actively discouraged me from being a doctor - the study doesn't stop when you graduate, it actually gets harder. I've done lots of exams and I have one more set to do. I wanted to be an architect but decided at 14 to become a doctor because I wanted to help people. I attended Queen Elizabeth School and King's College medical school. I was in a high school rock band called Leash with four friends. We played a lot of Nirvana, Guns 'n Roses and Pearl Jam. The lead guitarist, Munawar Choudhuri, went to medical school with me. We did acoustic sets at university. We both made the decision when we started medical school we would do the things we loved that defined us as people. Medicine's expanding in three dimensions all the time, especially when you're a generalist like me, you're expected to keep up with all of it. It's impossible - there's no Yoda in medicine, there's no-one who knows everything about everything. You need to be as good as you can but accept the fact you're a human being. I'm glad I have the music because it helps me take a step back.

In emergency medicine, you get to help a lot of people and make a big difference in a short period of time. My first job was in a hospital in Kent. I went to New Zealand for 3½ years. I was in Invercargill for a year, then I met in a girl named Rachel in Wellington when I was playing rugby seven . I moved to Wellington. Three of my songs are about this girl. We're still friends, she lives in Sydney now. I didn't do music for a few years. Then I wanted to start singing again. I started working with a singing teacher. I started doing performances just before I came to Australia.

I moved to Australia in 2009 and I worked at hospitals on the North Shore. I started working at Wollongong Hospital in January. I really like the staff here. A lot of the big teaching hospitals in Sydney can be very formal. People here are a bit more laidback and open-minded. I started guitar lessons in May 2012 and after three lessons I said to my teacher I've written a song. He said 'that's a really good song'. It was about a Wollongong girl. It's called Be This Way and it got picked up by a few radio stations. I kept writing songs. I put them on YouTube and they're on my website as well. I have released two EPs, the first, Factor This, in March 2013. Be This Way is the first song. I recorded my second EP, V-Factor, in March. I had the launch at Three Chimneys.

A US broadcasting agency sent my CD to 150 US radio stations and 147 said they'd play it. I'd like my music to be self-sustaining. At the moment it's just a hobby, it's cost me quite a lot. If I can sell enough copies and do enough gigs, that would be a happy medium. I need a manager. A mum asked me to play a song to her 17-year-old daughter who was in a coma in intensive care, so I did. When the girl was in rehab in Port Kembla I went to see her and I played her another song. Every song is a story from my online diary. My next gig is at His Boy Elroy on November 2. Check out my website - www.v-factor.com.