Introduction.
Over the years, the Nigerian music business has birthed Nigerian Grammy Award Winners , and with that expansion has come a growing desire for supremacy and awareness outside.
Numerous Nigerian Grammy Award winners have received Grammy awards throughout the years since the coveted accolade is regarded as the highest honor in music.
This article discusses Grammy Award-winning Nigerians who you may or may not know.
Nigerian Grammy Award Winners
Seal (Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel)
Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, best known by his stage name Seal, was born in 1963. He is a British-Nigerian singer, composer, and musician best known for his 1994 hit song “Kiss from a Rose.” He has received 15 Grammy nominations and four Grammy awards. He won three Grammys for his song “Kiss From A Rose” in 1996, and he won a fourth for “Imagine” in 2011. He has received the most Grammy nominations of any Nigerian.
Cynthia Erivo
In 2017, this British-Nigerian actress, singer and songwriter bagged a Grammy for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Wizkid
Wizkid’s appearance in Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl video contributed to his victory. For a few years, Wizkid has been on the verge of a Grammy victory. Despite the Grammys passing on his massive smash duet with Drake, “One Dance,” “Views,” the album that the song is on, was nominated for Album of the Year. The album lists Wizkid as a producer and featured musician.
Wizkid’s 2021 grammy victory came for his work on Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl.
Wizkid, a well-known Nigerian artist, earned his first Grammy in 2021 for his contribution to Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl music video. The Made in Lagos star was listed on the CD as a producer and featured performer.
Jenn Nkiru
Jenn Nkiru, a British-Nigerian director, co-directed the “Brown Skin Girl” music video. Nkiru’s first collaboration with Beyonce was as the second unit director of Ricky Saiz’s “Apeshit” music video for Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Nkiru handled the video for Beyonce’s Ivy Park clothing line’s 2020 debut.
Burna Boy
The African Giant didn’t withdraw into his corner to sulk when he lost to Republic of Benin’s Angelique Kidjo in 2020; instead, he dropped a no-skip album before the end of that year, which ultimately put him in the running for consideration this year. Burna Boy’s big win in the Global Music category with his “Twice as Tall” album is no small achievement.
Sikiru Adepoju
Sikiru Adepoju is also one of the Nigerian Grammy Award winners musician from Nigeria. He is a Nigerian drummer and musician who specializes in global and traditional African music. He is also a multi-instrumentalist and multi-style performer.
As a member of Mickey Hart’s band Planet Drum, whose eponymous album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album—the first time there has ever been such a category—he received his first Grammy in 1991.
On February 8, 2009, at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, he won once more as a member of Mickey Hart’s most recent ensemble, Global Drum Project, whose title album took home the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album.
Sade Adu (Helen Folasade Adu)
Sade Adu, a singer, songwriter, and actress who was born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan in 1959 but is better known by her stage name Sade Adu, grew up in Essex, England. She is known as the lead singer of her eponymous band. She holds the title of the first artiste of Nigerian origin to win the prestigious award. Her first Grammy was in 1986 for “Best New Artist” then another followed in 1994 with “No Ordinary Love” for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. She earned her third Grammy in 2002 with “Lovers Rock” in the Best Pop Vocal Album and bagged her fourth in 2011 with “Soldier of Love” for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. In Total she has 8 Grammy nominations and 4 wins.
Lekan Babalola
Lekan Babalola is a jazz percussionist and musician from Nigeria who was born in 1960. He began playing the conga at a young age. He’s released seven albums and won two Grammys. After joining the Samba Samba Band and then the New York City-based Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers band, where he honed his bongo drumming skills and performed jazz music, he started his professional career. He was credited on three tracks of Ali Farka Touré’s In the Heart of the Moon, for which he earned his first Grammy Award in 2006. For his contributions to the 2008 album Loverly by Cassandra Wilson, he also received a second Grammy in 2009.
Chamillionaire (Hakeem Temidayo Seriki)
He went by the stage name Chamillionaire and was born Hakeem Seriki. He is a rapper, businessman, and investor. Chamillionaire was born in Washington, D.C., to a Muslim Nigerian father and an African-American Christian mother. At the age of four, the family relocated to Houston, Texas. In 2007, he won a Grammy for his song “Riddin'” in the category of Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. In all, he was nominated for four awards that year.
Kevin Olusola(Pentatonix)
Oluwole Olusola, a native of Nigeria, and Curline Paul, a Grenadian, welcomed Kevin Olusola into the world in Owensboro, Kentucky. The beatboxer for the vocal group Pentatonix, Olusola is a musician, beatboxer, cellist, rapper, record producer, vocalist, and composer. Three Grammys have been given to him. For their song “Daft Punk,” a medley of songs by Daft Punk, Pentatonix received a Grammy in the category of “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella” on February 8, 2015. Pentatonix received a Grammy in the same category on February 15, 2016, this time for the song “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from their “That’s Christmas to Me” album. For their performance of “Jolene,” which included Dolly Parton, Pentatonix won a Grammy on February 12, 2017, in the category of “Best Country duo/group performance.”
Tems (Temilade Openiyi)
On February 5, 2023, talented Nigerian singer Tems won her first Grammy. She shared the prize for their popular song “Wait For U” with rappers Future and Drake. The Best Melodic Rap Performance award was given to it. And she is the last of the Nigeria Grammy winners as at 2023.
Nominated Nigerian Grammy Award Winners Who Didn’t Win
Honorable mentions of Nigerian musicians who have been nominated as Nigerian Grammy winners include King Sunny Ade, who became the first artist to do so in 1983. Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie-Ngozi, who appeared on Beyonce’s 2015 album, Kah-Lo (Faridah Seriki), 2017, and Seun Kuti 2019, also received nominations. Femi Kuti has received four nominations and Made Kuti.
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