Yemi Alade sings to unite Africa. Her full name is Yemi Eberechi Alade. She’s a native of Ondo State, born in Abia State, which is in the Eastern part of the country. Yemi Alade has a penchant for integrating African styles and cultural heritage into her song visuals. Her beautiful African attire and scenery befit the continent. Her unique sound and promotion of African culture have been responsible for her success. Ms Alade has worked with famous artists like Flavour and Mr P, Falz, Selebobo and Sarz. She says she is an African, and such identity cannot take away from her.
Yemi Alade’s Early Years
She was born on the 13th of March 1989 to an Ondo-born father, Mr James Alade and an Abia state woman Helen Uzoma. Her father was commissioner of police, and she’s the 5th child of seven children. Yemi got her senior school certificate from Victoria Grammar school in Ikeja, then later earned her degree in Geography from the University of Lagos.
Yemi’s Music Career
Yemi Alade’s always loved music so this made her compete in Nigeria’s peak talent show in 2009. She was declared the show’s winner and as a result, it launched her music career. She released her debut single titled ‘Fimisile’ in 2009. In 2012, the record label Effizy music group signed her on, after which Universal Record label signed her. Her smash hit ‘Johnny’ had over 138 million views on YouTube, so the first African female artist to achieve such a milestone on YouTube.
Yemi has done well for herself as an African artist by growing her brand in Western, Eastern and South African countries through tours. Internationally, she sang at the Global Goals: unite our future with Miley Cyrus and other famous international artists.
Yemi Alade sings in different languages so as to connect with her broad audience. The Afro-pop star entwines French, Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo and Portuguese lyrics in her songs and has released four albums since her break in the music industry. These include ‘Kings of Queen’ (2014), ”Mama Africa (2016), ‘Black Magic’ (2017), ‘Woman of steel’ (2019) and ‘Empress EP ‘(2020).
She gives back to the industry by coaching on The Voice Nigeria – for two seasons now. Yemi has worked with African musicians like Sarkodie, Grammy-award-winning Angelique Kidjo, Patoranking, Phyno, etc. She was one of the few selected African artists that worked on ‘The Lion King’ project with Beyoncé.
Yemi Alade’s Most Popular Songs
She has many hit songs to her name. Some of her popular songs are:
- Johnny
- Tell somebody
- Power
- Bum Bum
- Don’t jealous me
- Africa
- How I feel
- Double Double
- Boyz
Awards and Nominations
One of Yemi Alade’s nominations was the Best African Act in 2015. MTV Europe Music Awards. She also won the MTV Africa music award consecutively (2015 & 2016) and received the Best Performer award at the 2017 Headies. At the AFRIMA awards in 2018, she was the best female artist.
This award-winning artist has several ambassadorial deals such as UNDP 2021. Hollandia, Glo, Maybelline, Shell Oil Company, luxury beauty products and Lush hair. Yemi Alade is worth $4million.
Conclusion
Yemi Alade is not just a talented singer but an astute business person. She uses her stage to help us see music as a mirror from which we can achieve African unity.
Yemi Alade is featured on a Grammy award song, and we are looking forward to her receiving a Grammy very soon.
