On the other hand, Barnes, now 43, turned her pain into power.

The control escalated into terrifying micromanagement--he even checked her car's gas mileage to ensure her movements matched her claims. She completed a master's degree in public health, raised her son alone, and is now putting him through university.

But after nine years in an abusive relationship, her lowest point came when he viciously attacked her in front of their young son. She is known to get the audience to eat out of her hands.

I encourage Jamaicans and the corporate world to support Jazz In The Gardens with artistes like Nickeisha.

"My mind just said, 'Girl enough, enough for you, enough for your son...Enough with this man'.

Her abuser had stripped her of financial independence, leaving her penniless. However through struggles in Arnett Gardens in terms of gang violence, my brother stopped taking me out in the hours of night and early mornings.

"There is this notion that we have as Jamaicans that what happens in yuh house must stay in a yuh house, but what I have learnt is the house's business is the community's business, it's the parish's business, it's the nation's business.

Suh it's all a wi business," added Barnes who also encouraged those enduring domestic abuse to never forget their strength.

"That's what they try to take away from you, your strength the things that make special, those things that make you stand out those things that make people gravitate towards your beautiful soul...so don't let them steal that from you," Barnes said.

After their son was born, he slapped her during an argument.

Then came the physical abuse. It is the region's business," Barnes said. She has also done an EP named Layers of My Soul.

She will hit Jazz In The Gardens in July with a bang. He became controlling, questioning her whereabouts and even decided who she could spend time with.

At first, his actions seemed caring--"'I'm looking out for your benefit'," Barnes said her partner assured her.

With nothing but determination, she began to rebuild her life from scratch.

Her abusive ex-partner died tragically in 2015, becoming one of the 1,208 persons murdered in Jamaica that year. I became more focused on my schooling. So if he slapped me in the head, I would say, 'Oh my God, I made him angry', and blame myself," Barnes explained.

She told THE WEEKEND STAR that there were pauses in the abuse, but the impact of the assault was more than physical.

"I looked in her eyes and I knew that things had to change because that is not how I want to show up for her, I don't want her eyes to see this and think this is normal, that this is healthy and what love looks like," said Barnes. I used to follow them early morning, late nights to the studios in Kingston especially Anchor by Gussie Clarke to observe and sing a few background vocals, but I was very shy and nervous.