Davido biography and his net worth
One of the richest Nigerian artists, Davido, obviously enjoys his life. The singer seems to have everything he needs: a wonderful house, plenty of cars, and a staff that sees to his needs. But how did he manage to become such a big star?
Source: Getty Images
Let’s find out more about his biography, his path to success, wildest stories, and his future plans or dreams.
Profile summary
- Date of birth: November 21, 1992
- Birthplace: Atlanta, GA
- Age: 28 years old (as of 2020)
- Zodiac sign: Scorpio
- Nationality: Nigerian
- Famous as: Singer-Songwriter
- Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
- Father: Adedeji Adeleke
- Mother: Veronica Adeleke
- Siblings: Adewale Adeleke, Sharon Adeleke
How old is Davido?
As of 2020, Davido age is 28 years old, as he was born on November 21st, 1992.
Early life
David Adedeji Adeleke was born on November 21, 1992. Today, he is known as an American-born Nigerian recording artist, record producer, and performer. His music is not only popular in the USA, but in his motherland Nigeria as well.
He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Nigerian business executive Adedeji Adeleke and college professor Vero Adeleke.
Davido father, Adedeji Adeleke, came to the USA from Nigeria and became a business magnate.
His mother was a lecturer in the local university. There is not a lot of information about the musician's childhood or how his parents brought him up.
Source: Getty Images
However, we know that prior to starting his career, the artist went to the university. He chose a major connected with business and studied Business Administration at Oakwood University.
Exactly at that time, an interest in music industry overwhelmed Davido. He shared a room in a dormitory with another international student, a Rwandan track athlete.
He remembers how surprised he was to see an African in his room. The singer also got very close with the guy who lived upstairs. Jaymo, the upstairs neighbor, was American and was very noisy.
The musician remembers that one day, he went to go check what the noise upstairs was. After he opened the door, he saw a full studio in the guy's room. Then, Davido told him that he was trying to do some music too.
After giving it some thought, the neighbor asked Davido right away if he wanted to invest in equipment. He suggested that Davido invested $2,000. At that time, it was too much to begin with, so he contributed $500 instead.
Music career
The artist was doing music as a hobby until March 2011. He was a part of a group called “KB international” in the USA.
But the group didn’t work out as well as Davido would have liked, so he decided to proceed on his own. At that time, he felt that doing what you love and also making your own money is happiness. So he started to record songs.
Since meeting his new friends at the university, he spent all his time recording songs and searching for good beats. He sent all his recordings to his cousin in Lagos in hopes of getting into the music industry.
Source: Getty Images
Three semesters later, his grades dropped and he decided to quit university. He left town without even telling his parents about it.
Looking for a new life, he headed to Atlanta, where he used his older brother’s ID for a couple of months. He used it to get into clubs and spent all his tuition money on drinks and motels.
Later, he decided to leave the country and boarded a plane to London. He got rid of his SIM card and began a new life.
At that time, he shifted his focus from production to vocals, and bought some musical equipment. The artist revealed:
“There was no Snapchat, no Instagram. There was barely Twitter...I just went off the radar.”
Eventually, he returned to Nigeria in 2011, and at that point, he started his music career for real. But due to his father’s pressure, he still had to enroll in university, but this time to one in Nigeria. In July 2015, he earned a Music degree from Babcock University and successfully graduated.
His single "Dami Duro" was released in 2011 and it was well-accepted by the audience in the whole of Nigeria. Back in 90’s, he had nothing, but now he and his elder brother Adewale Adeleke own HKN Music (a record label that signed Sina Rambo, B.Red and DeeKay).
Now, he is not only recording songs but has also produced many songs for Tiwa Savage, Naeto C, Skales, and Sauce Kid. However, these are not his only achievements.
In April 2012, he signed a big endorsement deal with MTN Nigeria. With the support of Guinness Nigeria, on October 23, 2013, he took part in the "Guinness World of More" concert.
Source: Getty Images
Now, let's take a look at Davido albums.
Omo Baba Olowo (2011-2012)
In 2011, he started to work on his debut studio album - Omo Baba Olowo. His first musical recording "Back When" was released on May 7, 2011. He not only recorded the song but produced it as well. The album earned massive attention from the public.
The song and the video stood out as it was something different in the Nigerian music industry. The music video for the single was uploaded onto YouTube on May 9, 2011.
Directed by Clarence Peters, the video seemed to preserve the traditional style for the Nigeria musical industry, but had some modern beats in it. The musician said that "Back When" was a song he recorded in London.
Following the single, Davido and Shinzzi co-produced "Dami Duro" and released the song on October 30, 2011.
The music video for "Dami Duro" was available to watch on January 8, 2012. Again, the main director of the video was Clarence Peters and it was shot during the Occupy Nigeria protests in Lagos.
The artist mentioned in some interviews that he recorded "Dami Duro" in August 2011 and then three months later, the song got leaked. The singer had sent it out to some friends before, so that may be a reason for song’s early release.
His first album Omo Baba Olowo was released in 2012. The album included the singles "Back When" featuring Naeto C, “All of You", "Overseas", "Dami Duro" featuring Sina Rambo and the most famous ones recorded with Ice Prince - "Ekuro", "Gbon Gbon", and "Feel Alright".
The next few years (2013-2015) were very productive for the artist. The singles "One of a Kind", "Skelewu", "Gobe", “Aye", "Tchelete (Goodlife)", "Naughty", "Owo Ni Koko", "The Sound", and "The Money" brought him to charts’ top lists. All these singles were included in the album – “The Baddest”.
Source: Getty Images
The Baddest and campaign in Africa (2013)
The second album that he began to work on was “The Baddest”. In early 2013, he released "Gobe" as the upcoming “The Baddest” album's lead single. Shizzi was the main producer for the first single of the album.
The song's video was shot in South Africa, and The Godfather Productions helped with shooting the video. The song was ranked to be the second best one on the Top 10 songs of 2013 list by Premium Times.
The musician is very active on social media platforms. Therefore, he announced his second album’s release on Twitter.
"One of a Kind" song was picked as a leading single for the upcoming album. The album was released on May 13, 2013. The song was produced by Shizzi.
The music video for "One of a Kind" song was directed by Tebza of Godfather Productions. The video was also shot in South Africa and portrayed a very diverse and united Africa, rich in ethnic and music culture.
"Skelewu" was his upcoming album’s third single and was released on August 13, 2013. The song was on the 5th place in the Top 10 songs of 2013 list. The song hit Afribiz's Top 100 chart and managed to be on the 1st place for a few weeks.
Before the release of the song’s video, there was a dance competition announced. The musician uploaded a sample dance video onto YouTube and encouraged fans to upload their videos dancing along to "Skelewu".
On October 10, 2013, Davido announced the winner of the competition - Bello Moshood Abiola . The lucky winner got the cash prize of $3000 which was announced days after the release of the song.
On February 2, 2014, he released "Aye". This was the fourth single from the upcoming album.
He has also taken part in charity events as well. In June 2014, Davido had a chance to work with Mi Casa, Lola Rae, Sarkodie, Diamond Platnumz, and Tiwa Savage on a song for DSTV's Africa Rising campaign.
This song was meant to inspire Africans to be more community-involved. It promoted social investment, a need to take action and be part of positive changes in local communities. The music video for the song was released on June 24, 2014.
As expected, it was shot and directed by a South African production company and all the preparation for the video took place in South Africa. The artists also performed the song at the Africa Rising launch ceremony in Mauritius.
In July 2014, Davido mentioned that he planned on working with American rappers Rick Ross and Meek Mill. But within a year of cooperation, in June 2015, the artist cancelled his collaboration with Meek Mill.
His most profitable contract is the one with Sony Music. In January 2016, the singer announced it on Twitter and fans reacted to that news in different ways. Some people said it was not a good idea to work with Sony Music, but many other fans supported Davido’s new path.
The record label confirmed the deal which they had signed with him. A few months later, the singer started his own label, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW). Dremo and Mayorkun were signed to the label.
Source: Getty Images
Davido and Wizkid
The singer is always saying that he has a sense of competition when it comes to music. There was a long-running feud between Davido and Wizkid who were former friends and collaborators.
They suddenly turned into rivals, who spent a few years teasing each other in songs and on social media platforms. However, Davido denied all these reports:
“Me and Wizkid, we’re the best. If one telecoms comes to me, the other one will go meet him. If Coke comes to me, Pepsi goes to him. Whether or not it’s true, they make it feel like it can only be one of us. I think there’s enough for all of us to eat, but then sometimes it can feel like only one person will win.”
Awards and nominations
By December 2014, he had received 29 awards from 74 nominations. He got a BET Award, a Kora Award, a Channel O Music Video Award, a Ghana Music Award, a Nigeria Music Video Award, 2 MTV Africa Music Awards, 2 African Muzik Magazine Awards, 5 The Headies Awards, 7 Nigeria Entertainment Awards, and 2 Dynamix All Youth Awards.
His love life: Baby mamas and children
Before he became a father, he was dating a model named Sira Kante. They started dating in late 2014.
However, the beautiful couple broke up in 2015, just before the birth of the singer's first baby-girl Imade Aurora Oluwadamilola Adeleke, whose mum is Sophia Momodu. Sophia and the singer broke up soon after the birth of their baby girl.
After their split, the two ex-lovers started fighting over the care of the child. According to some rumors, an argument started between the ex-couples when the singer was trying to take the child away from her Sophia Momodu.
He also planned on escaping with the baby to the USA. Davido and his sister were stopped at the airport and the police took away their passports.
The staff of the Nigerian immigration service and airport staff contacted the mother of the child, but the singer insisted on taking the child away. He confirmed that Sophia was truly the mother of his child, but he took advantage of him when he was younger.
He said that he met Sophia when he was almost 21 years old. She was older than him and was able to manipulate him, using his youth, naivety, and generosity.
Sophia is the mother of the musician's daughter, but Davido has said that there's nothing more than that between them. She would never be his wife and was never qualified for that status. Her background is very dissimilar from his, she has very paltry education and equally diminished physical attributes. The musician even revealed that she manipulated him so that she could move into his house.
Soon after the incident with Sophia, the Nigerian singer and another baby mama named Amanda welcomed their new bundle of joy in May 2017. The star couple named the baby Hailey Veronica Adeleke. The singer posted photos of him and the baby, confirming that now he was the happy father of two daughters.
That relationship didn’t last long.
Reports have it that a lady named Ayotomide Labinjo was involved with the musician before he became popular. They have a child - Mitchell Anu Adeleke.
Today, the singer is engaged to Chioma Avril Rowland, who is also the mother to his son, Ifeanyi Adeleke.
Davido, who opened up in a rare interview with Ebuka Obi-Uchendu on Bounce Radio live, said their highly-anticipated wedding will take place in 2021.
He said,
‘‘Honestly, Coronavirus messed plans up because it was meant to be in July. I have decided it will be some time next year. For now, I want her to work on her business while I work on my album and the kids. I want everything to balance first.”
In the interview, the artist also opened up about their love story and why his heart belongs to Chioma:
“I have known Chioma for about seven years. We have been dating for about five years. Lati introduced me to Chioma. We went to the same school, Babcock University. We started as friends but I got so used to her and she got so used to me as well. She is a great cook as well.”
Davido net worth
On April 6, 2012, Nigerian Entertainment Today wrote an article about the singer's new deal with MTN. It was reported that he signed a ₦30 million endorsement deal with MTN. According to the contract, Davido would be the face of MTN Pulse, a marketing campaign for Nigerian youths.
Soon after that, on October 24, 2013, Pulse reported about the artist's new big endorsement deal with Guinness Nigeria. In the framework of that contract, the singer performed at the Guinness World of More Concert. Other artists including P-Square, D'banj, Wizkid, Ice Prince, Burna Boy, Olamide, Phyno, Chidinma, Waje, and Tiwa Savage were present at the concert as well.
In 2018 Davido signed an endorsement deal with smartphone maker Infinix.
As of 2020, Celebrity Net Worth reports that his net worth is $10 million.
As we can see, Davido’s life is full of adventures and very crazy stories. He is living it up and is not afraid of being judged by others. As time passes, the singer only becomes more popular. We will see how everything will go for him in future, but for now, let's keep on enjoying his songs and following the latest news about this Nigerian music star’s life.
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Source: Legit.ng