Harrison Tare Okiri, better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Harrysong, is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

singer, songwriter and instrumentalist who rose to fame after his tribute song to

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

won the "Most Downloaded Callertune Award" at

The Headies 2013 The Headies 2013 was the 8th edition of The Headies. It was held on 26 December 2013, at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. The show was hosted by Tiwa Savage and Dr SID. Olamide was the biggest awardee of the night, winning three awards from seven ...

. Harrysong was born in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial c ...

, Delta State, Nigeria to

Ijaw Ijaw may refer to: *Ijaw people The Izon people or Izon Otu, otherwise known as the Ijaw people due to the historic mispronunciation of the name ''Izon'', are an ethnic group majorly found in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, with significant populatio ...

parents but moved to

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

in 2007 after spending some of his early life in Port Harcourt. Prior to signing to QuestionMark Entertainment, Harrysong used to perform at night clubs until he met

Kcee KCEE is a commercial radio station located in Tucson, Arizona, broadcasting on 690 AM. KCEE airs a Christian format and is owned by Calvary Chapel of Tucson, Inc. KCEE's programming is also heard on KAIC (88.9 FM), a station nominally licens ...

who introduced him to top music personalities. In 2014, Harrysong was nominated in the "Best Pop/R&B Artist of the Year" category at the 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards after the release of his chart-topping song "Beta Pikin".

Early life

Harrysong was born as the only child to Ijaw parents in Warri, Delta State. After the death of his mother, a strained relationship between him and his step-mother led to his drop-out from school and his involvement with music grew after moving to Port Harcourt.

Career

At age eleven, Harrysong's music career started as a congarist in the church his mother served as the music director before he went on to learn contemporary gospel music. In 2007, he moved to Lagos as the lead singer of a live band who perform in night clubs until he met Kcee which led to him signing for Five Star Music. His rise to fame came when he released the single "I'm In Love" and "Taiye & Kehinde" with the music video of the former topping music video charts including

Trace TV Trace Urban (formerly MCM Africa then Trace TV) is a French pay-TV music video television channel owned by TPG Capital. It is the parent channel of the various Trace music channels. It is the third most distributed French television channel in t ...

. He went on to release his debut album ''Testify'' through QuestionMark Entertainment in 2012. However, just before the coronavirus entered Nigeria he released a new song titled ''Bumbumbum'' which he teamed up with Davido.

Personal life

On June 22, 2017, Harrysong welcome twins with Alexer Perez Gopa named (boy; Perez & girl; Tare). On February 4, 2021, he confirms his engagement with Alexer Perez Gopa on his Instagram page, and they both got married on March 27, 2021, in Warri.

Discography

Albums

*''Testify'' (2012) *''Kingmaker'' (2017) *" Right About Now Ep (2020)

Selected singles

*"I'm in Love" *"I Want You (Gyptian cover)" *"Obu Ego (Hustle)" *"Taiye & Kehinde" *"I'm in Love Remix"(featuring Olamide) *"When She Loves" *"Better Pikin" *"Kolombo" *"Ofeshe" *"Reggae Blues"(featuring Olamide,

Iyanya Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk (born 31 October 1986), known by his stage name Iyanya, is a Nigerian Afropop recording artist. Career He rose to fame after winning the first season of ''Project Fame West Africa'' and is best known for his hit single " Kuk ...

Orezi Esegine Allen (born 28 March 1986), better known by his stage name Orezi, is a Nigerian musician from Delta State. He rose to prominence with his song " Rihanna" in 2013. In a chat with Showtime's ''The Cooking Pot'' the singer said that in t ...

) *"Baba for the girls"(featuring

) *"Arabanko" *"Comsa" *"Under The Duvet" *"Happiness" *"Selense" *"Tekero" *"Report Card" *"Chacha" (Remix) (featuring

Zlatan ibile Omoniyi Temidayo Raphael (born 19 December 1994), known professionally as Zlatan Ibile, is a Nigerian rapper and singer. He is the chief executive officer and founder of Zanku records. In 2014, he won the Airtel-sponsored One Mic talent show held ...

) *"Kona ft Rudeboy *"Piompiompiom

Awards and nominations

References

{{Authority control Living people 21st-century Nigerian male singers Musicians from Warri Year of birth missing (living people)