Davido Adeleke was born on November 21, 1992, in Atlanta, Georgia, US, to Adedeji Adeleke and Vero Adeleke. He is the second son and youngest of five siblings.
Despite his father’s objections, Davido pursued a music career and released his first single “Back When” featuring Naeto C in 2011.
Davido has a net worth of about $30 million and has made his money through music, real estate investments, and endorsement deals with major brands like MTN, Guinness Nigeria, Pepsi, AXE, Travelbeta, Infinix Mobile, 1xBet, Martell, and Munch It. He also co-founded HKN Music with his elder brother and founded his music label, DMW, in 2016.
Africa’s renowned Afrobeat superstar, David Adedeji Adeleke popularly known as Davido has been on the lips of everyone for the past weeks; especially since the Timeless Concert at the Tafawa Balewa Square last weekend.
Almost immediately after the event, he went to the 2023 Forbes ‘Under 30 Summit’ at Gaborone, Botswana, where he performed and spoke.
Davido is arguably one of Nigeria’s biggest brand influencers and is the second most-followed African on Instagram with over 26.9 million followers on the platform.
So, what do you know about Africa’s OBO?
David Adedeji Adeleke was born on Nov. 21, 1992, in Atlanta, Georgia, US, to Adedeji Adeleke and Vero Adeleke. He is the second son and youngest of five siblings.
His father was a Business magnate, while his mother was a University Lecturer. He attended British International School, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria, and then moved to Oakwood University, Huntsville, Alabama, where he studied Business Administration.
Choosing music over the business
While in the university, David started pursuing his musical interest on the side and he got some musical equipment so he could make beats and record vocal references.
The result of this was that his grades suffered. He soon returned to Nigeria in 2011 to fully promote his music career, but experienced difficulties convincing his father.
It is said that his father even had him detained in a police cell, in a bid to discourage his music pursuit and convince him to go back to school.
The senior David Adeleke had hoped that Davido would finish school and join the family business, but his son preferred to face the music. They reached a compromise. Davido enrolled at Babcock University, Ogun State and finally graduated in 2015 with a degree in Music.
Music! Music! More music!
While pursuing his education, David kept at his musical pursuits. He released his first single ‘Back When’ featuring Naeto C in 2011.
He also co-produced the single with Shizzi, both of which were shot by Clarence Peters in London. He released a couple of other singles – Ekuro (2012), and Overseas (2012), but he did not become truly popular until he released his second single ‘Dami Duro in January 2012.
On July 17, 2012, Davido released his debut studio album, the song which would officially change his name to OBO. Omo Baba Olowo (Child of a Wealthy Person) was released under HKN Music Record Label.
The album featured the likes of Sina Rambo (his cousin), Ice Price, Kay Switch, B-Red, 2 Face and Naeto C. as guests.
Since then, it has been an upward trend for the young Davido Adeleke, and he has continued to release single after single, album after album. In 2013, he released One of a Kind, Gobe, and Skelewu. In 2014, it was Aye, and Tchlete (Goodlife) featuring Mafikizolo. In 2015, Davido released Dodo,
The Money features Olamide, Owonikoko, Fans Mi featuring Meek Mill, and The Sound features Uhuru and DJ Buckz.
He released his second album Son of Mercy, EP in Oct. 2016, and many more. It has been hit after hit for him, and it would be near impossible to pick out any of his songs that failed to raise dust.
His most recent release “Unavailable” has been the subject of millions of Instagram and Tiktok content since its release some weeks ago.
Philanthropy
Davido’s philanthropy is about the only thing that competes with his musical dexterity. He is known for regularly doing giveaways, competitions and challenges on social media. He also regularly supports people who have challenges with their fees.
On November 17, 2021, Davido extended his philanthropy to new levels. In a social media video, he asked his friends and fans to send him one million nairas in advance for his birthday.
He even added that those who did not send him money should no longer associate with him. The donations came up to 200 million nairas, and Davido added 50 million nairas to it and donated the entire sum to orphanage homes in Nigeria.
Awards and Records
Davido has received several awards and set new records, enough to make up an article of its own. The Omo Baba Olowo album won the Best R&B/Pop Album at the Headies 2013.
He won the Promising Youth Artist, Dynamix All Youth, 2011; Best Newcomer Award, Kora Awards, 2012; Best International Act: Africa, BET Awards, 2014; Best Male West African, African Muzik Magazine Awards, 2014; Artists of the Year, African Muzik Magazine Awards, 2014; and Best Male Artiste of the Year, MTV Africa Music Awards, 2014. Among several others, he also won Artiste of the Year, The Headies 2014 and 2018.
His songs have also been recognised with several awards. Some of them include Song of the Year, ‘Back When’ Dynamix Youth, 2011; Music Video of the Year ‘Aye’ Ben TV Awards, 2014; Best Afro Pop Video ‘Aye’ Nigeria Music Video Awards, 2014; Best R&B/Pop Album ‘Omo Baba Olowo’, The Headies 2013; Best Collabo of the Year ‘Carolina’ Saucekid featured Davido, 2012, and several others.
Davido Adeleke was also the recipient of the MOBO Awards as the Best African Act in 2017 and became the first African to perform live at the awards.
A year after, he set another record and became the first African-based Artist to receive the BET Awards on its main stage.
