Oyebanjo are the two real names of the Nigeria singer who is popularly known as with a stage name D’banj. He was born to a family of seven with his father being a military officer while his mother was a church dignitary. A combination of first name (Dapo) and surname (Oyebanjo) resulted to his stage name which is one of the most popular names in Nigeria’s music world. The Nigeria singer was born on June 9, 1980 in Kaduna state region which is found at the Northern part of Nigeria. The star was influenced into music by his brother Femi Oyebanjo who used to play harmonica. Later, Femi died at an age of 17 together with his father as a result of tragic plane crush. The singer started off his career when he went to United Kingdom for studies in 2001. He met Don Jazzy who was an upcoming song writer and the two returned to Lagos in 2004 to start their music careers. The genre of the songs he plays is a fusion of Afrobeat and Afropop as an influence from his mentor Fela Anikulapo Kuti whose music career ran from 1958 – 1997.
After the release of his first album – No Long Thing in 2005, D’banj made his breakthrough in the music industry. The album had several singles which included Tongolo song which was his first hit song that made him famous all over Nigeria and the world. The breakthrough lead to several collaborations with other artistes in Nigeria, among them was also Ikechukwu. Rundown Funk U Up was his second album in the music industry. The album had the Tongolo remix and another hit single, why me? This brought the musician to the spotlight and since then he has been in the fore front in the music industry in Nigeria.
As the saying goes, hard work pays for sure. The singer has won numerous awards in Nigeria and abroad. In 2012 MTV awards, he won the category of the best African artist award albeit he was facing stiff competition from other artistes from Africa. In total, the entertainer has won 29 awards to date with 58 nominations coming along with them. He has being performing on a variety of songs where he has performed on international stage with the likes of Snoop Dog (whom they have a collabo Mr. Endowed Remix), Kanye West, Rita Ora, Jay Z and Kelly Rowland.
D’Banj has had several controversies in the music industry though. He was involved in a girlfriend saga with the famous Nigerian actress- Genevieve Nnaji where they were for long thought to be in love since the two kissed on his music video but they later broke up. The girlfriend saga went on to the Ghanaian actress Nadia Buari with the singer even releasing some lyrics about her in his Oliver Twist single hit.
Lately, the artiste was linked to the international occult group, illuminati. A lot was said about him joining the group but he had rebuffed the claims linking him to the occult. The singer performs in Pidgin English, English and Yoruba which is one of the four official languages used in Nigeria. His hard work, commitment and love of music explains his passion of achieving big in the music industry.
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