Born January 20, 1981, Timi Dakolo is one of Nigeria’s finest vocalist and well respected for his craft.
He was a coach on Season one and two of The Voice Nigeria; one of his team members, Cornel emerged third in the debut edition, while Idyl, a singer he trained won the second edition of the competition.
Early Life/Education
Timi Dakolo was born in Ghana to a Nigerian father, Bayelsa native and Ghanaian mother, Norah who died when he was thirteen.
Despite being born in Ghana, Timi Dakolo has a Nigerian passport and does not claim dual citizenship. He was raised by his grandmother Aleni Dakolo and his aunt, Susan Larry in Port Harcout. Timi in 2005 gained admission into university of Port Harcourt where he studied Communication.
The gifted vocalist was awarded a certificate in songwriting from the prestigious Berklee Colege of Music in year 2016.
Music Career
Dakolo credits his grandmother, with whom he had a very special relationship with as his early singing teacher. Timi started singing in church at the age of 12. In 2003 he joined the singing group ‘Purple Love’ as a founding member. They dominated the Port Harcourt club circuit, but disbanded in 2005.
While in Port Harcourt, Timi won a local talent hunt contest G.E FACTO. In 2006, Timi Dakolo auditioned for reality show Idols West Africa in Calabar. His songs of choice were Commissioned’s More Than I and Lemar’s Time to Grow. His vocals impressed the judges, and he was seen as a contender for the prize. A week before the viewing of the Top 24 performances, Dakolo received the news that his grandmother had died.
While in the competition, Timi Dakolo was never in the bottom 3. In the final three weeks of the competition it was revealed by the producers of the show that Timi had the highest number of votes each of those weeks.
He emerged winner of the inaugural season of Idols West Africa in 2007. With his victory, he got a recording contract with Sony BMG, in addition to other prizes.
After winning Idol West Africa in 2007, on January 1, 2008, on New Year’s Day, Timi Dakolo was shot at the lobby of the Presidential Hotel in Port Harcourt. He had gone to the hotel to attend a church service in the company of his friends. The attack was a random act of violence by a faction of Niger Delta militants and did not target Timi. Although a hotel security guard was murdered in the attack, Timi escaped with a flesh wound, was rushed to the hospital, treated and discharged on the same day.
In 2011 Timi Dakolo released his debut album “ Beautiful noise” featuring songs such as ‘There’s a cry’, ‘Great Nation’ and ‘Heaven Please’.
He is well known for his love song ‘Iyawo Mi’ released in 2014 and his 2015 song ‘Wish me well’ which he won the best Best Male Performance, Best R&B Single and Best Recording of The Year prize at the Headies 2015 miusic awards ceremony held in Lagos, Nigeria.
Breakout Songs
- There’s a Cry (2011)
- Iyawo Mi (2014)
- Wish Me Well (2015)
- The Vow (2016)
- Medicine (2017)
- I Never Know Say (2018)
Album
- Beautiful Noise (2011)
Awards
- 2015 The Headies Award – Best Recording of the Year
- 2015 Headies Award – Best Vocal Performance (Male) for ‘Wish Me Well’
- 2015 Headies Award – Best R&B Single for ‘Wish Me Well’
Scandals
Singer debunked Punch Newspaper’s interview
In 2016, Punch Newspaper published a cover page story on Timi Dakolo, calimed the singer granted an interview where he talked about the impact of former president Goodluck Jonathan on his career.
The singer upon seeing the front page, headed to his social media page, shared the picture of the cover page and denied ever granting the interview. He wrote;
“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN…I DIDNT GRANT THIS INTERVIEW…SO I WONDER …HOW SOME WOULD SIT AND WRITE UP THINGS LIKE THIS…”
Copyright saga with Majek Fashek
Sometimes in 2017 Majek Fashek’s management threatened to slam Timi Dakolo with N100 million lawsuit for copyright infringement when he did a remake of ‘Send Down The Rain.’
The soulful singer cleared his name off the controversy, provided proof that he paid Majek’s management at the time of transaction to use the song. And in a series of documents he made available to NET, an online publication, an agreement was signed by a popular film maker and blogger, Charles Novia, who represented Majek Fashek while the sum of N500,000 was paid on behalf of Timi Dakolo by Now Music to November Records.
The receipt issued was signed for by Charles Novia. Dakolo also posted online a copy of the bank teller used in the transaction.
According to Timi, he said, “I brought a statement on this last year which absolves Timi of any wrong doing and we still stand by that statement.
“Majek in the presence of three or four witnesses gave us permission to negotiate that deal on his behalf. Timi Dakolo actually went through all the processes required to clear the song.
“I don’t know what Majek’s new management is trying to achieve with these things.”
Saga with OAP Freeze
On-Air-Personality, Daddy Freeze got in an online brawl with Timi Dakolo after the latter seemed to disagree with his stand on marriage in 2017.
The OAP who was once married (now divorced) felt insulted by by Dokolo’s opinion that marriage should be lifetime commitment. Freeze questioned the singer’s knowledge about marriage and said he is in better position to give advice on marriage because he was in it for ten years.
Side chic claim
A social media user in October 2017 claimed Timi Dakolo has a side chic after the singer dished out relationship advice online.
The user identified as @moyocashogi said, “Timi Dakolo that I know his side chic be dishing out marital epistle…Timi continue ooooo”.
The tweet caused outburst, some of the singer’s fans lambasted him, but he insisted, “I said I know Timi’s side chic and some of you think I want to trend lol…Ok lemme just drop this hint “D-farm Agege”
“I refuse to talk but I know her.
“Believe me or not I have seen him couple of times,” he tweeted.
Dakolo, however, laughed off the allegation, he said the said side chic must be golden for him to go as far as Agege of the state.
Epic response to Filmmaker’s call out
Timi Dakolo was one of the singers billed to perform at the 2018 Experience that took place in Lagos State. This didn’t go well with a filmmaker, Chris Jay, who had to call him out on social media to question why he performed when he’s not a gospel singer.
Dakolo responded like he was already prepared to go to war with anyone who questioned him, he replied, saying Chris being a married man, talked stupidly. He then went on to defend his performance;
Personal Life
Dakolo got married to his beautiful wife, Busola Dakolo (nee Amupitan) in 2010. They have three children.
Social Media
- Twitter: @timidakolo
- Instagram: @timidakolo