Wizkid Biography – Early Life, Career and Net Worth
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, better known as Wizkid and more recently Big Wiz, was born on July 16, 1990. He is a Grammy-winning singer and composer from Nigeria. Before starting his own label Starboy Entertainment in 2013, Wizkid inked a record deal with Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E.) in 2019. The smash song “Holla at Your Boy” by Wizkid, which was published on January 2, 2010, propelled him into the public eye. The song is off his 2011 album, “Superstar.” The song garnered him the Best Pop Single and Next Rated accolades at The Headies 2011.
He appeared on the 2019 hit song “Brown Skin Girl” by Beyonce, which is taken from her album “The Lion King: The Gifts” and peaked at number one on the World Digital Song Sales chart. August 24, 2020 saw the debut of the music video. The Brow Skin Girl video took home the 63rd Annual Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 2021.
Wizkid’s fourth studio album, “Made In Lagos,” which was produced by P2J and featuring Tems, Burna Boy, Skepta, H.E.R., Tay Iwar, Ella Mai, Terri, and Damian Marley, was released on October 30, 2020. The album’s lead track, “Essence,” made history by becoming the first Nigerian song to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. After Justin Bieber’s remix was made available, the song peaked at number ten. By February 2021, Wizkid had amassed over 3.4 billion streams across all of his credits on Spotify, making him the most streamed Nigerian artist ever.
Wizkid was one of the most honoured musicians at a Headies night in 2022 after winning five awards at the 15th Headies ceremony, which was hosted at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta on September 14, 2022. The musician with the most Headies honours at the moment is Wizkid.
On September 4th, 2022, Kanye West posted the cover of the Essence song to his Instagram page with the statement, “Best song in music history to date.”
In 2022, Wizkid will release his fifth studio album, More Love Less Ego.
Wizkid’s Early Life
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun is Wizkid’s true name, and he was born in Surulere, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. His father is a Muslim, but his mother is a Christian. Wizkid, who went to church with his mother, started singing in his neighbourhood church at the young age of 11. He was a lead singer in addition to being a talented singer.
He was successful in getting The Glorious Five, a band he and a few of his church buddies started, to release a joint album. 2019 saw the signing of Wizkid to a record deal with Banky W’s label Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E). Wizkid founded his record label Starboy Entertainment in March 2013, and since then he has signed other musicians, including Terri, who was signed in 2018. These musicians include Maleek Berry, Efya, R2Bees, and many more.
Following his collaboration with Drake on the song “One Dance,” Wizkid has become incredibly well-known throughout the world and has gained much more and more recognition on a global scale.
In more than 15 nations, including the United States of America (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Canada, the melody triumphed over the schematic.
Wizkid is most certainly the best musician to have emerged from Nigeria and the rest of the world. Wizkid has 6.1 million Twitter followers and 10.1 million Instagram followers, both of which attest to his distinguishable excellence. That’s quite a feat!
Wizkid Albums
- Superstar (2011)
- Ayo (2014)
- Sounds from the Other Side (2017)
- Made in Lagos (2020)
Awards and Nominations
Since 2011, when he first became known for his unique excellence, Wizkid has won close to 100 awards. In any case, here are just a few, dating from 2015 to the present:
- 2015: MOBO Awards – Best African Act
- 2016: Ghana Music Awards – Artiste of the Year
- 2017: BET Awards – Best International Act: Africa
- 2017: MOBO Awards – Best International Act
- Likewise in 2017: Future Awards Africa – Young Person of the Year
- 2017: Echo Awards – Song of the Year for “One Dance”
- 2017: Billboard – Top R&B Record for “One Dance”
- 2018: Afrimma – Song of the Year and Video of the Year’ awards for “Soco”
- 2018: Headies Awards – Viewers Choice, Best Music Video, Best R&B, and POP Album
- In 2019, He won Song of The Year at Afrimma Award for his song “Fever”
- 2020: Wizkid Wins “Best African Act” at MOBO Awards 2020
- In 2021: Won Best Music Video at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards
The artist who received 10 nominations for the 2022 Headies Award edition won five of them. All thanks to his album Made in Lagos and the worldwide hit song “Essence” with Tems. Kanye West named Essence the best song in music history to that point on September 4th, 2022, after posting the single’s cover with a caption.
Wizkid’s Net Worth
As at the time of publishing this report, Wizkid was reported to be worth $17 Million dollars which is approximately N13,600,000,000.
Wizkid’s Endorsements
- 2012: $350,000 1 year Pepsi deal
- 2013: N45 million MTN 1 year deal, Guinness
- 2014: Hennessy
- 2015: N128 million 1 year Glo deal
- *renewed Pepsi deal multiple times
- 2018: Ciroc
- 2019: N1 billion UBA deal
- Organizations
- Moschino
- Daily Paper
- Nike
- D&G.
- Puma
Wizkid Social Media Handles
- Instagram: @wizkidayo
- Twitter: @wizkidayo
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