By Ainsworth Morris

Had Raheim Betty, the 2025 Jamaica Gospel Star winner, been deterred after entering national gospel competition twice before, then he would not have emerged the winner on Sunday (August 3).

Betty ministered with a heartfelt performance of ‘I Must Tell Jesus‘, which had the audience worshipping and giving praise before the grand announcement by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) of his victory inside the National Indoor Sports Arena. He walked away with a cash prize of J$1 million.

In a pre-show interview, Raheim Betty said he wanted to win the Gospel Star Competition so badly that it hurt. He last entered the competition in 2021, and 2025 was his third time entering.

When he was announced the winner and walked on stage at the National Indoor Sports Centre in St Andrew, tears were streaming down his face.

“It was tears of joy mixed with everything else. I cannot believe that God is so good to me. I have dreamed of this moment for so long,” Betty, who was the only male in the five week competition, said.

Betty chose the song ‘I Must Tell Jesus‘ as his solo piece, and when he won, he drew for the same song to celebrate.

“Jesus heard me. Thanks to my mother, all my family, my bishop and everyone who voted for me. I can finally invest in my music career,” said Betty, who shared that it was his third time entering the contest.

If there is one person who is happier than Raheim Betty, the JCDC Gospel Star winner for 2025, it has to be his mother, Valerie Mundle. On Sunday night, when he was announced the winner of the competition, she jumped out of her seat at the National Indoor Sports Centre and reached up to the front of the stage to celebrate. Her son looked down and saw her and told her gently, “Mommy, yuh can’t stay there.”

“I am so proud. I feel happy … very happy. I told him, ‘Raheim, you got this, just focus.’ I know that it was his time. I am so glad I was there to witness it for myself,” a super excited Mundle said.

She added that on the day of the finals, she had no ride from her home in St Ann to Kingston and broke down in tears, thinking she’d have to watch the final’s broadcast on YouTube.

“I cried when I couldn’t get a ride. When I was getting ready to go church mi a cry, but I never want him to see me crying. But, Raheim told me not to worry myself. On my way to church, I said ‘God, you always make a way for me and I know you are going to mek mi go to the concert.’ And by time I reach church, Raheim text me and said, ‘Yuh ride coming 4:30 p.m.’ And I seh what a God! I couldn’t miss this finals,” she said.

Betty, a former English language teacher, was intend on breaking into the music industry.

“I was crying because I have been trying so hard for years and years in the different competitions and I have never made it to this point, ever. I was encouraged by a friend to enter this year and I did it. I must say that it was challenging for me because I have been experiencing a lot of hardship from 2024 into 2025 … but here I am, God came through,” he said.

Placing second and third in the competition were Joraine Welsh and Donielle Anderson respectively, while Shushana Levy was awarded the special Sprit of Praise Award.