Nigeria’s international, multiple award winning singer Wizkid, a.k.a Starboy is the toast of Twitterati today as he turns 29.
Not surprisingly #Wizkid29 is trending as number one with many posts celebrating him on his birthday. Other Wizkid hashtags, such as #Wizkidday and #Wizkidfc are also trending on Tuesday morning in Nigeria.
As hundreds of fans raved in salutation for one of Nigeria’s best known contemporary act, surprisingly Wizkid Ayo was silent about his birthday on his own Twitter account. His last tweet to his close to five million followers was in January. On Instagram too, Wizkid said nothing to his 7.8million followers.
Born as Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun in Surulere, Lagos 29 years ago, Wizkid, the afrobeat, afropop, dancehall singer, started recording music at age 11 and managed to release a collaborative album with the Glorious Five, a group he and a couple of his church friends formed.
In 2009, he signed a record deal with Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E). He rose to prominence in 2010 with the release of the song “Holla at Your Boy” from his debut studio album, Superstar (2011). “Tease Me/Bad Guys”, “Don’t Dull”, “Love My Baby”, “Pakurumo” and “Oluwa Lo Ni” were also released as singles from the Superstar album.
In February 2014, Wizkid became the first ever Nigerian musician to have over 1 million followers on Twitter. Ayo, his self-titled second studio album, was released in September 2014. It was supported by six singles: “Jaiye Jaiye”, “On Top Your Matter”, “One Question”, “Joy”, “Bombay” and “Show You the Money”. Following the release of his second studio album and expiration of his 5-year recording contract, Wizkid left E.M.E.
In 2016, Wizkid achieved international recognition following his collaboration with Drake on the global hit, “One Dance”, which reached number one in 15 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. In addition to his solo work, Wizkid has collaborated with several other artists and was featured on the hits “Girl” (with Bracket), “Fine Lady” (with Lynxxx), “Sexy Mama” (with Iyanya), “Slow Down” (with R2Bees), “The Matter” (with Maleek Berry), “Pull Over” (with KCee) and “Bad Girl” (with Jesse Jagz). Moreover, he became the first Afrobeats artist to appear in the 2018 Guinness World Records for his contribution to Drake’s hit song “One Dance”.
On 1 March 2017, Billboard magazine reported that Wizkid signed a multi-album deal with RCA Records. Wizkid was ranked 5th on Forbes and Channel O’s 2013 list of the Top 10 Richest/Bankable African Artists.
Wizkid had won multiple awards from BET awards, Headies, MOBO, AFRIMA, Ghana Music Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, Channel O Music Awards and many others.
Gossips24.com Wishes the Nigerian Star A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
