Michael Adebayo Olayinka (born 23 September 1999), known professionally as Ruger is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and musician. He rose to fame with the release of his song "Bounce", which led him to sign a recording deal with

Jonzing World Jonzing World is a Nigerian record label and management company which was founded by a recording artist D'Prince on 22 March 2019. The label is currently distributed through Mavin Records unit Mavin Global. Jonzing services includes, music record ...

, in 2021. That same year, he released his debut extended play, ''Pandemic''. In 2024, he exit Jonzing World to start his own imprint, called 'Blown Boy Entertainment'.

Early life

Michael Adebayo Olayinka was born on 23 September 1999 in

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 ...

, where he was also raised. He is originally from Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Career

Olayinka was discovered by D'Prince, who gave him the name "Ruger". His first song recorded seventy million views in three days. In January 2021, D’Prince announced the signing of Ruger to Jonzing World and

Sony Music Entertainment 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 ...

UK, in a joint venture with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. He released the song "One Shirt" with

Rema Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

in January 2021. In February of 2021, he released "Ruger", a single from first EP, ''PANDEMIC''. "Bounce" became a hit song from ''Pandemic'', and debuted at number 39 on the Top 50 chart Nigeria, and was listed at number 20 on the

TurnTable End of the Year The ''TurnTable'' End of the Year charts are a top 50 list of and cumulative measure of singles' performance in the Nigerian music market, based upon the ''TurnTable'' charts, during any given chart year. ''TurnTable''s "chart year" runs from the ...

chart and number 2 on the

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

top Afrobeats songs. On 26 November 2021, he released his second EP, titled ''The Second Wave'', with "Dior" as the lead single, which debuted number 32 on the Top 50 chart, and number 15 on the

UK Afrobeats Singles Chart The UK Afrobeats Singles Chart is a record chart compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 20 most popular singles in the afrobeats genre. The chart is compiled by the OCC from digital downloads, phy ...

. On 19 November 2021, he released his second EP, ''The Second Wave'', produced by Kukbeatz. The song "Dior" reached number 32 on the Top 50 chart, and number 15 on the

. 2021 AFRIMMA (African Muzik Magazine Awards) nominated RUGER for Best NewComer 2021 2021 AFRIMA (All Africa Music Awards) nominated Ruger for Best Artiste, Duo or Group in African Reggae, Ragga or Dancehall and Most Promising African Artiste of the year. In November 2022, Ruger released the hit single ''Asiwaju'', which peaked at number 1 on Nigeria's Apple Music chart and spent a record-breaking one month at the top. As of May 2024, the track has accumulated over 100 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. In February 2023, Ruger was named Best New Artiste at the Soundcity MVP Awards which were held at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos. In September 2023, Ruger released his debut album, ''RU The World.'' In April 2024, Ruger and

Bnxn Daniel Benson (born 14 May 1997), known professionally as Bnxn (pronounced as Benson) and formerly known as Buju, is a Nigerian Afro-fusion singer, songwriter and record producer. Early life He was born in Lagos. He hails from Akwa Ibom stat ...

released the collaborative mixtape ''RnB''. The mixtape's lead single, ''Romeo Must Die'', debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Afrobeat chart.

Discography

Albums / EPs

*''PANDEMIC'' (4 March 2021,

) *''The Second Wave'' (19 November 2021, Jonzing World *''Ru The World'' (1 September 2023, Jonzing World)

References

{{Reflist Living people 1999 births 21st-century Nigerian male singers Singers from Lagos