Teniola Apata (born 23 December 1993), professionally known as Teni The Entertainer 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 Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and entertainer.

Early life

Teni was born on 23 December 1992 in

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

. She is the younger sister of Nigerian singer

Niniola Niniola Apata (born 15 December 1986), known professionally as Niniola, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. She participated in the sixth season of ''Project Fame West Africa'' in 2013. After releasing her debut single "Ibadi", she was nominated ...

. She attended

Apata Memorial High School Apata Memorial High School is a military-style private boarding school in Lagos, Nigeria. It was founded in 1980 by retired Nigerian Army Brigadier-General S. O. Apata (who was assassinated on January 8, 1995). The school has about 1550 pupils and ...

and later preceded to The

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

, but finished at American InterContinental University where she obtained degree in

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

Career

2016-2019: ''Fargin, Askamaya and Other Recordings''

Teni released her debut single "Amen" while signed to

Shizzi Oluwaseyi Akerele, popularly known as Shizzi, is a Nigerian platinum record producer, disk jockey and songwriter. Music career 2009–2015: Early life and career Shizzi started out as a drummer in church. He achieved recognition for his work on ...

's Magic Fingers Records. She left the record label and signed with Dr. Dolor Entertainment in 2017. Teni started gaining prominence after releasing the single " Fargin" in September 2017. She made her breakthrough after releasing the hit singles "Askamaya", " Case" and " Uyo Meyo". "Askamaya" was ranked 15th on

MTV Base MTV Base was a British pay television music channel from Paramount Networks UK & Australia that focused primarily on hip hop, R&B, grime, garage, reggae, funk, soul and dance music. It was launched as part of MTV's digital boutique of music ch ...

's year-end list of the Top 20 Hottest Naija Tracks of 2018. On 20 February 2019, Teni was featured on

YouTube Music YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. It provides a tailored interface for the service, oriented towards music streaming, allowing users to browse through songs and music videos on YouTube based ...

's Trending Artist on the Rise. On 3 May 2019, she released the video for "Sugar Mummy". On 14 June 2019, she released a new single titled "Power Rangers".

2019-2020: ''Billionaire E.P and Quarantine Playlist''

Teni released her debut E.P, Billionaire on 11 October 2019. The “Billionaire EP” was compiled with six (6) tracks and no guest appearance. The E.P was produced by Jaysynths Beatz and

Pheelz Phillip Kayode Moses (born 5 June 1994), better known as Pheelz, is a Nigerian record producer, singer and songwriter who has worked with several artists and musicians, such as Olamide and Tiwa Savage. Born and raised in Lagos, Pheelz is credite ...

. In April 2020, Teni partnered with Nigerian Disk Jockey, DJ Neptune to release an EP called the Quarantine Playlist, which sees her playing out different stages of being in quarantine and talking about the strains of being on lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The four-track EP is mostly mid-tempo and includes production from Tempoe, P. Prime and Dëra.

2021-present: ''Wondaland''

On 2 February 2021, Teni revealed the name and expected date for her forthcoming debut album. She shared this on her Instagram account "The time is near... And the album shall be called “WONDALAND” 🦋#MARCH2021 #WONDALAND" Her debut album 'WONDALAND' was crafted for over two years in cities like

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, New York,

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Ondo Ondo may refer to: Japan * Ondo, Hiroshima * Ondo (music), a style of folk music * ''Ondo'' class oiler, ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy Nigeria * Ondo City * Ondo State * Roman Catholic Diocese of Ondo * Ondo Kingdom (c. 1510–1899) People ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The album's production was handled by

, Damayo, Tempoe, P.Prime, Millamix,

Krizbeatz Chris Alvin Sunday professionally known as Krizbeatz or KrizBeatz the drummer Boy, is a Nigerian record producer best known for producing Tekno his first single "Pana". Ranked 3rd on ''Pulse Nigeria''s 2016 list of "Top 5 Best Nigerian Music Pro ...

, and Ozedikus and was made available for purchase and online streaming on several music platforms, including Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, and Google Play.

Endorsements

In March 2019, Teni signed an endorsement deal with Tom Tom, a candy brand produced by

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

Nigeria. On 6 October 2020, PM News reported that Teni had signed an endorsement deal with Telecommunications Giant,

Globacom Globacom Limited, commonly known as Glo (Global communication), is a Nigerian multinational telecommunications company founded on 29 August 2003 by Mike Adenuga. As of June 2018, the company employs more than 3,500 people worldwide. Overview ...

Nigeria.

Awards and nominations

Teni won Rookie of the Year at the 2018 Headies Awards, and Most Promising Act to Watch at the 2018

Nigeria Entertainment Awards The Nigerian Entertainment Awards were established in New York City in January 2006. The awards recognize the contributions of African entertainers with a special focus on Nigerians. Ceremonies * 2006 Nigeria Entertainment Awards * 2007 Nigeria ...

. She also won Best New Artist at the 2018

Soundcity MVP Awards Festival The Soundcity MVP Awards Festival ("TheMVPs" or "MVP") is an event presented by Soundcity TV which awards plaques to musicians and performers across Africa. Since 2007, the winners are chosen by the viewers and fans by visiting #TheMVPs' website ...

NotJustOk NotJustOk is a Nigerian music download website created in June 2006 by Ademola Ogundele. With over 1.2 million viewers per month, from 183 countries, it is one of the most visited websites in Nigeria. History Coined from Seth Godin's book '' Pur ...

ranked her eighth on its list of the 10 Hottest Artists In Nigeria. She was listed on ''

Premium Times ''Premium Times'' is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory. It was launched in 2011. The online medium is notable for investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which ...

'' list of the Six Nigerian breakout stars, viral sensations of 2018. In October 2022, Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), a Nigerian National award was conferred on Teni by President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

. There was a controversy on social media about her approach to receiving the award.

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

*''Billionaire'' (2019) *''The Quarantine Playlist'' (2020) *''WONDALAND'' (2021) *Moslado Refix

Selected singles

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teni Living people Nigerian women musicians 21st-century Nigerian musicians 21st-century women musicians Yoruba women in business Yoruba women musicians 1992 births