In this article, platinumtimes.ng chronicles the biography, career, background, songs, lifestyle of popular musician, Wizkid.
Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun whose goes by the stage name Wizkid is a star singer and songwriter who is the founder of Star Boy Entertainment, a record label established in 2013.
He is widely known as one of the wealthiest and influential artists in the continent.
Profile Summary
Name: Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun
Stage name: Wizkid
Date of birth: 16th July, 1990
State of Origin: Ogun State, Nigeria
Education: Lagos State University
Career: Musician
Early Life
Wizkid was born on the 16th Of July 1990 into a Polygamous family. He is a native of A native of Ogun State. His father, Mr. Balogun was a Muslim while his mother was a devoted christian.
Education
The Yoruba born artist spent his early years in Lagos State where he had his early and secondary education before studying briefly at the Lagos State University.
He also attended Lead City University, Ibadan before he ventured into music.
Career
He began recording music at the age of 11 and released a collaborative album with the Glorious Five (5), a group he and a couple of his church friends formed.
In 2009, Wizkid signed a record deal with Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E).
He later rose to limelight after releasing “Holla at Your Boy”, the lead single from his debut studio album, Superstar which also spawned the singles “Tease Me/Bad Guys” and “Don’t Dull”.
In September 2014, he released the self-titled second studio album, Ayo. The album was supported by six singles, including the song “Jaiye Jaiye”.
In 2016, Wizkid achieved international recognition following his collaboration with Drake on the hit single “One Dance”, which reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in 14 additional countries.
The song broke multiple records, making Wizkid the first afrobeats artist to appear in the Guinness World Records.
In March 2017, he signed a multi-album deal with RCA Records and released his third studio album Sounds from the Other Side, later that year.
The album was supported by five singles, including “Come Closer” featuring Drake.
In 2018, he was featured on the song “Checklist” by Normani and Calvin Harris, which reached number-one on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.
The following year, he was featured on Beyoncé’s project The Lion King: The Gift on the single “Brown Skin Girl”, which also reached number-one on the World Digital Song Sales chart, and won him a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.
In October 2020, he released his fourth album, Made in Lagos, which received commercial success and acclaim, reaching number-one on the Billboard World Album Chart.
The album includes the single “Essence” featuring Tems, which became the first Nigerian song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top ten following a remix released by Justin Bieber. Wizkid’s fifth album More Love, Less Ego was released on 11 November 2022.
Aside from this music career, Wizkid also his income as ambassador of leading companies like Pepsi, MTN, a telecommunication giant operating in Nigeria, GLO and Guinness.
Personal life
Wizkid has evolved to be one of the prominent and most sought after artists especially in afrobeats and dancehall music. He has four children from different women but is still single. He has earned several music awards at the Grammys and Headies music awards.
His first child, Boluwatife, was born to him in 2011 by Oluwanisola Ogudugu, his second son, Ayodeji Balogun was born in 2016 by Binta Diallo and his third son, Zion Balogun was born in 2022 by Jada Pollock who happens to be his manager. Wizkid has also had relationships with Tonto Dikeh, Tiwa Savage, and Seyi Shay.
Albums & songs
Wizkid has released several music albums over the years, they include;
- Superstar (2011)
- Ayo (2014)
- Sounds from the Other Side (2017)
- Made in Lagos (2020)
- More Love, Less Ego (2022).
Some of his hit singles are;
Holla at your boy, on top your matter, Tease me/ Don’t Dull, Jaiye Jaiye, Daddy Yo, Sweet Love, Come Closer, African Bad Gyal, Naughty Ride, For You, One Dane, Brown Skin Girl, Ginger, Soco, Ghetto Love and many more.
Controversies
The hip hop star was involved in a paternity controversy when he denied the paternity of his first child which he had with Sola Ogbudu who as at then was an undergraduate. However, after thorough investigation, it was confirmed that Wizkid was the biological father of the child by an Instagram picture of the singer and his son in 2013.
Awards
- Promising Artist of the Year at Dynamix All Youth Award, 2010.
- Best new male artist at City People Entertainment Award, 2011.
- Best New Artist of the Year at Nigeria Entertainment Awards, 2011.
- Artist of the Year at Dynamix All Youth Awards, 2011.
- Best African Act, Music of black origin, 2011.
- Best Pop/R$B Artist of the Year at Nigeria Entertainment Awards, 2012.
- Hip Hop World Revelation of the Year at the The Headies awards, 2012.
- Artist of the Year at The Headies, 2012.
- Best International Act Africa at BET Awards, 2012.
- Hottest Single of the Year (Ojuelegba) at Nigeria Entertainment Award, 2015.
- Video of the Year (Ojuelegba) at African Muzik Magazine Awards, 2015.
- Song of the Year (Ojuelegba) at African Muzik Magazine Awards, 2015.
- Grammy Award for Best Music Video, 2020.
- Soul Train Award for Best collaboration, 2021.
- Apple Music Awards as Artist of the Year (Africa), 2021.
Net Worth
The star artist has a net worth of over $30 million putting him among the most successful and influential artists globally.