Many people will know former Leeds United star Chris Kamara for his punditry but there are aspects of his life that some fans may not even know. Chris Kamara was born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, and is not known to share many details about his private life.
Kammy, as he is affectionately known by fans, began his football career back in 1974 at Portsmouth but before being signed to the club, he was in the Royal Navy which he joined at age of 16.
However, most recently, Mr Kamara has been in the spotlight as he opened up about his apraxia of speech diagnosis in a new ITV show called Chris Kamara: Lost for Words. The condition is a speech sound disorder whereby someone has trouble saying what they want to say consistently and correctly.
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Previously speaking about it, he said: “It feels like someone has taken over my voice box. The voice that used to come out would come out at 300 miles an hour, you’ve seen me on the results and Soccer Saturday, motormouth, talking and not even waiting for a breath, just keep going and going.
"Now when I hear myself or see myself on TV it’s someone else. It’s really strange.” We have taken a deep dive into his life ahead of the show on ITV which airs at 9pm tonight.
Yorkshire links
Mr Kamara was born in Middlesbrough to a Sierra Leonian father Alimamy Kindo Kamara and his mum Irene. He had two siblings George and Maria, and sadly, as they were one of few black families, they suffered racist abuse in their childhood.
He is believed to now live in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, and his son Jack is said to live next door with his partner and daughter. Kamara married his wife Anne in 1982 and the couple have been together since. They have two sons together Ben and Jack
Not much is known about his sons but Jack is believed to have followed his dad’s footsteps and is a footballer himself worth over £1m.
Football and TV career
Mr Kamara, affectionately called Kammy by fans, joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 after his dad, a former naval mariner, insisted. He ended up missing the final youth club for Middlesbrough Boys, however, his career was kickstarted when he was spotted playing for the Navy by Portsmouth manager Ian St John in 1974.
His career blossomed and he played for clubs across the country including Leeds United, Swindon Town, Sheffield United, Bradford City and more.
However, during his time as a professional football player he was subjected to racist abuse. Looking back, he previously told fans on social media that in May 1976, he was told “we don’t serve your kind in here” after heading to town on a trip back from Sunderland while playing for Portsmouth.
He became Bradford City Manager in 1995 but he gave up on management following his role at Stoke City and decided to work as a pundit for television and radio. Mr Kamara, who is worth around $20million, is also known for hosting Ninja Warrior alongside Ben Shephard and Rochelle Humes.
Singing prowess
If you’ve been on his Twitter, you would know Mr Kamara describes himself as a “bit of a singer”. He released a charity single for Euro 2012 called Sing 4 England which amassed over 300,000 views on YouTube.
He also released his debut album Here’s to Christmas in 2019 which reached number eight in the charts. Follow up album ‘And a Happy New Year’ was released in November 2020.
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