9 Nigerians Who Have Won The Grammy

On April 3, 2022, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will host the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Nigerians Who Have Won The Grammy It will honor the best recordings, compositions, and artists from September 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, the eligibility year. On November 23, 2021, the nominations were unveiled via a virtual livestream. Trevor Noah, the South African comedian who hosted the previous event on March 14, 2021, will reprise his role as host.

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In recent years, Nigerian musicians have not been contented with dominating their domestic turf; many have set their sights on international prominence, and many have succeeded. Since the Grammy Awards’ debut in 1959, nine musicians and artistes of Nigerian-decent have won the coveted gramophone trophy. We will go over a few of them in this article.  

Helen Folasade Adu (Sade Adu)

Sade Adu, a singer, composer, and actor, was born in Ibadan in 1959 as Helen Folasade Adu. She later relocated to the UK where she grew up in Essex, England. She is the first musician of Nigerian descent to get the prestigious Grammy Award. Her first Grammy was for “Best New Artist” in 1986, and her second was for “No Ordinary Love” in 1994, for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. In 2002, she won her third Grammy for “Lovers Rock” in the Best Pop Vocal Album category, and in 2011, she won her fourth for “Soldier of Love” in the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals category.  

Adepoju Sikiru

Sikiru Adepoju is a drummer and recording artist who specializes in traditional African and international music genres. He is a multi-instrumentalist who performs in a range of styles. In 1991, he received his first Grammy as a member of Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum, whose title album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. It was the first time a Grammy had been given in that category. Adepoju won again on 8 February 2009 as a part of Mickey Hart’s current group Global Drum Project, whose title album earned the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.  

Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel (Seal)

Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel was born in 1963 and goes by the stage name Seal. Seal is a British-Nigerian musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known for his popular song “Kiss from a Rose,” which he released in 1994. He has 14 Grammy nominations and has won four of them. In 1996, his song “Kiss From A Rose” won him three Grammy Awards, and in 2011, he won his fourth with “Imagine.” He holds the record for the most Grammy awards won by an individual of Nigerian descent.  

Lekan Babalola

Lekan Babalola, a Nigerian jazz percussionist and musician. He was born in 1960 and began playing the conga at a young age. Babalola has seven albums to his credit, as well as two Grammy nominations. He began his professional career after joining the Samba Samba Band and later Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers bands in New York City. There, he honed his skills on the Bongo drums and performed jazz music. He won a Grammy Award in 2006 for his contributions to Ali Farka Touré’s In the Heart of the Moon, for which he was recognized on three tracks. In 2009, he earned a second Grammy for his work on Cassandra Wilson’s Loverly, a 2008 album.  

Hakeem Seriki (Chamillionaire)

Hakeem Seriki, a rapper, entrepreneur, and investor  is better known by his stage name Chamillionaire. Chamillionaire was born in Washington, D.C., to a Nigerian father and an African-American mother. He later moved to Houston, Texas when he was four years old. In 2007, he won a Grammy for his song “Riddin'” in the category of Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. That year, he garnered a total of four nominations.  

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Kevin Olusola

Kevin Olusola is a musician, beatboxer, cellist, rapper, record producer, vocalist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the vocal group Pentatonix as their beatboxer. He is the recipient of three Grammy Awards. Pentatonix received a Grammy for their song “Daft Punk,” a mashup of Daft Punk tracks, on February 8, 2015 in the category of “Best Arrangement, Instrumental or a cappella.” The group also won a Grammy for “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from their “That’s Christmas to Me” album on February 15, 2016, in the same category. Pentatonix won a Grammy for “Jolene,” which included Dolly Parton, on February 12, 2017, in the category of “Best Country duo/group performance.” Kevin Olusola was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, to Oluwole Olusola, a Nigerian father, and Curline Paul, a Grenadian mother.  

Burna Boy

Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu known professionally as Burna Boy, is a singer and rapper. His fifth studio album Twice as Tall was released in 2020. The album was nominated for Best World Music Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards which it won. The previous year, his album African Giant had lost to Angelique Kidjo of the Republic of Benin in the same category. This made Burna Boy the first Nigeria-based musician, on a non-featured song or album, to win the Grammy.  

Wizkid

Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun known professionally as Wizkid, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Wizkid has been on the verge of winning a Grammy for a few years. In 2020, he was featured on Beyoncé’s project The Lion King: The Gift. Wizkid is credited as a producer and a featured artist on the album. He featured on the single “Brown Skin Girl”. The song reached number-one on the World Digital Song Sales chart, and won him a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.    

Jenn Nkiru

Jenn Nkiru, a British-Nigerian filmmaker, co-directed the video for “Brown Skin Girl.” In 2018, she was the second unit director of Ricky Saiz’s video for Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Apeshit . In 2020 she directed the critically acclaimed music video for Beyoncé’s Brown Skin Girl. The video won the Best Music Video award at the 2021 Grammy Awards.  

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