A young 19-year-old Davido (born David Adeleke) appeared on the Nigerian music scene with his first single “Back When” featuring rapper Naeto C. The well received song, released in May, 2011, was quickly followed by “Dami Duro” on October 30, 2011. This quickly became a club hit song as well as one of the most played songs on radios. All over the country, Nigerians, young and old, rich and poor, could be seen chanting the catchy chorus— ‘Ema dami duro … emi omo babalowo.’
Next stop for the pop star is the American audience.
Davido is set to win over the US audience after selling out the 02 Arena in London (Instagram/Efe One)
The release of the video in January 2012 helped to solidify the newcomer’s second single as one of the biggest songs in the country. That year, Davido’s song got nominated for five awards. He won three; Channel O Music Video Awards’ Most Gifted Newcomer Video of the Year, Nigeria Music Video Awards’ Best Video By A New Artiste (Live Beats Choice) and Nigeria Entertainment Awards’ Hottest Single of the Year.
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This set the pace for the rest of his career as he soon became known for dropping bangers. In 2013–2015, his hit singles included “Gobe” “Skelewu”, “Aye”.
From Nigeria to Africa
Brushing off a rough patch in 2016, Davido went back to dropping even bigger singles like “If”, “Fall”, “Fia”, “Assurance” and “Nwa Baby” in 2017 - 2018. These songs helped him become the first African act to perform live at the 2017 MOBO Awards. He also won the best African act at that award ceremony.
The next year, he won the BET Award for Best International Act while also becoming the first African-based artist to receive his award on the main stage.
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These awards, as well as his remarkable performances and deals across the continent, proved that he had gone from being just a Nigerian pop star to an African superstar.
Africa to the world
The young artist’s quest for global domination can be traced to his deal with international record label Sony Music/RCA in 2016, which led to the release of the Son of Mercy EP in the same year.
In the years that followed, Davido has performed on every major stage in Africa. His 2017 extensive 30 Billion Tour saw the pop star perform at North America and Europe. He added South America to the international mix when he stepped on stage before a crowd of 10,000 in a small country called Suriname.
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Earlier this year, Davido crossed UK off his list by selling out the London O2 Arena. Now, he has set his sights on the U.S audience, a market that has proven difficult for many Nigerian acts.
After enjoying a fair amount of success with his 2017 hit single, ‘Fall’, which became the longest charting Nigerian song on American Billboard chart and the most Shazamed song by New York radio listeners in 2018, the determined artiste is set to promote his songs on American radio stations this week.
![Davido's songs feature on New Yorks top tracklist [Instagram NewYorkTopCharts]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'544'%20height%3D'540'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Davido's songs feature on New Yorks top tracklist [Instagram NewYorkTopCharts]")
Davido's songs feature on New Yorks top tracklist [Instagram NewYorkTopCharts]
Pulse Nigeria
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Davido shared the news on Twitter writing, “My US Radio/-Press run just starts this week.”
“We already have Two records in the top 40 urban radio charts…Only up from here !! We are about to break!!!!” he added.
With his successful track record, the African pop star definitely has everything required to win over the American market.
