The Nigerian singer-songwriter, BURNA BOY, was born Damini Ogulu on the 2nd of July, 1991 in Port Harcourt city, Nigeria to Bosede and Samuel Ogulu and he is the only son and eldest of three children. He started producing music when he was ten years old. After graduating from college, Burna relocated to London to attend university. After two years, he dropped out and moved back to Nigeria to pursue his passion.
Coming from a family where music was loved but where greater premium was placed on education, he spent most of his summer holidays in the UK and in language immersion summer camps in France, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, before finally moving to the UK where he picked up the Brixton Patois accents which has become a signature in his music. Young Damini attended Montessori International primary school in Port Harcourt (1993-2002) and Corona Secondary School, Lagos (2002-2008).
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Little wonder achieving remarkable feats such as performing at Coachella, releasing an EP with DJDS, selling out SSE Wembley 12,500 capacity Arena (making him the first Afrobeat artist to sell out the arena), making his debut appearance on NPR-Tiny Desk concert, appearing and performing at top interviews such as “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, “Daily Show” with Trevor Noah and “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon – and appearing on the cover of a lot of local and international magazines, wasn’t as surprising. He has also had over 70 performances with over 40 sold out shows across America and Europe in 2019 alone
It has always been music for Burna Boy as observed by his mum when he was still a teenager. She recounts that he was always hanging around his Grandfather, listening to classical music; little wonder his role model later became the man his grandfather managed, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
His quest for knowledge took him outside the shores of Nigeria to the United Kingdom to study Media Technology at the University of Sussex (2008–2009) and Oxford Brookes University (2009–2010) to study Media Communications and Culture. Thereafter, he did a one year internship with Rhythm 93.7 FM Port Harcourt before officially launching his professional music career when he was signed on to Aristocrat records – prompting a permanent relocation to Lagos.
Burna Boy has released a series of EPs, singles, mixtapes and albums including 2018’s extraordinary “Outside”. The award-winning collection led to Burna’s U.S breakthrough, debuting at #3 on Billboard’s “Reggae Albums”chart, which was partly fueled by the blockbuster single/video, “Ye”.
His most recent album, “African Giant”, released in July 2019 has garnered praise from both Nigerian and international media. Furthermore, the “African Giant” album got nominated for the 62nd Annual Grammy Award in the Best World Album category.
Burna is among the contemporary African music’s brightest star and also the pioneer of an enigmatic genre he simply dubs “Afro-fusion”. The gifted singer-songwriter got featured on American songstress, Beyonce’s curated Lion King soundtrack, “The Gift”. He also recently took home the 2019 BET Best International Act Award and 2019 MTV Europe Music Award for “Best African Act”.
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