Adewale Mayowa Emmanuel (born 23 March 1994), known professionally as Mayorkun, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and pianist. He released a cover of

Davido David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), popularly known by his stage name Davido, is an American-Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. His music blends traditional African elements with global mainstream pop. Davido is widel ...

's "The Money" single and was discovered by the singer on Twitter. Mayorkun was signed to Davido's record label DMW from 2016 to 2021; his debut single "Eleko" was released under the label. Mayorkun released his debut studio album ''

The Mayor of Lagos ''The Mayor of Lagos'' is the debut studio album by Nigerian singer Mayorkun. It was released on November 16, 2018, through Davido Music Worldwide. The album's production was handled by Speroach Beatz, Cracker Mallo, Fresh VDM, Kiddominant, DJ Co ...

'' in November 2018. After his exit from DMW in 2021; he released "Let Me Know" and his second studio album '' Back In Office'' in October 2021, under Sony Music West Africa division.

Early life

Mayorkun was born on 23 March, 1994 in

Osun State Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Ogun S ...

, Nigeria. He is the first child of three, born into a family of entertainers. His mother is a

Nollywood Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there ...

actress and his father, an artist and movie producer. Mayorkun was part of the choir at a very young age where he, according to him, "learnt the rudiments of music". He has a degree in accounting from the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...

, and was in a banking job before he was discovered in 2016.

Music career

Mayorkun decided to leave his bank job to search for another due to bad pay, when his cover video was spotted by

in February 2016.

followed him on Twitter and Instagram, after which

asked him if he can do more than play the keyboard. He got a call from

the same day he wrote his resignation letter and sent

some of the songs he already recorded.

decided to sign him to

Davido Music Worldwide Davido Music Worldwide (commonly known as DMW), is a Nigerian record label owned by Afrobeats singer Davido. The label is home to recording acts, such as Dremo, Yonda, Peruzzi, Idowest From Lagos Island, DJ Ecool, Danagog, B-Red, Deekay, May D, ...

. Mayorkun released his first single under the label called "Eleko" in 2016. The song debuted o
number 9
on the Nigeria

Playdata charts Playdata charts was a weekly airplay chart, measuring songs being played on the radio, and television stations in Nigeria, and published on its website, with data gathered from its proprietary PlayData Broadcast Monitoring service. It provides a ...

, on 1 May 2016, and reached number 5, on 28 May 2016. The video of the song gathered a million views in the first 10 days. To his name, Mayorkun has several singles including Yawa, Sade, Che Che, and Mama. In October 2018, he released singles "Posh" and "Fantasy" featuring

Olu Maintain Olumide Edwards Adegbulu (born September 1976), known by his stage name Olu Maintain (sometimes called Mr. Yahooze), is a Nigerian singer. He co-founded the musical group known as Maintain with his cousin, Tolu Ogunniyi. Adeboye Bammeke, popul ...

in anticipation of his first studio album titled "

". The Mayor of Lagos was released on the 16th of November, 2018. On December 1, 2018, it appeared on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

World Albums chart, peaking at number 15. In 2020, he was among the artistes scheduled for performance at the Convention center of the

Eko Hotel and suites Eko Hotels and Suites is a five-star conference centre hotel in Lagos. 09161518010 History Established in 1977 as ''Èkó Holiday Inn'' and built on Victoria Island, it is the largest hotel in Nigeria. It was designed by architect Oluwole Olumu ...

Victoria Island Victoria Island ( ikt, Kitlineq, italic=yes) is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the List of islands by area, eighth-largest island in the world, ...

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 ...

for the 2020 vanguard personality awards. Other scheduled artistes included Tekno,

Timaya Inetimi Timaya Odon (born 15 August 1980), better known by his stage name Timaya, is a multiple award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter. He hails from Odi, Bayelsa state, South-South Nigeria. He is fondly called the Egberi Papa 1 of Bayels ...

and many more.

''The Mayor of Lagos'' concert

Mayorkun embarked on a nationwide tour in 2017 that saw him perform in over 35 schools. He ended the year 2017 with his first headline concert in

called "The Mayor of

". The Mayor of

concert continued in 2018 with a show in the city of Ibadan and the federal capital territory,

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. Also, a date for a

edition was announced. In 2018, Mayorkun did a tour of the UK alongside label mate Dremo, where he performed in about six cities. He also performed alongside label boss Davido at the

wireless festival The Wireless Festival is a rap and urban music festival that takes place every year in London, England. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. While it started as primarily a rock and pop festival, in recent years it has focused on hip hop and ...

Exit from DMW, and Back In Office

In 2021, he announce his exit from DMW at the release party of his second album "Back In Office", in an interview with

Ebuka Obi-Uchendu Chukwuebuka Obi-Uchendu (born 14 July 1982) is a Nigerian lawyer and media personality from Okija in Anambra State, Nigeria. He is known for hosting the reality show ''Big Brother Naija'', the long running ''Rubbin' Minds'' talk show on Channe ...

, they both (

, and Mayorkun) shared the news with fans at his album lunch party. The studio album "Back In Office", was released through

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, West Africa division in Nigeria on 29 October, 2021.

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

*''

'' (2018) *''Geng'' (EP) (2020) *''Back In Office'' (Album) (2021)

Selected singles

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://www.mayorkun.com/index.html Nigerian singer-songwriters 1994 births Living people Yoruba musicians Yoruba-language singers English-language singers from Nigeria Musicians from Osun State University of Lagos alumni