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Yemi Eberechi Alade (born 13 March 1989), is a Nigerian Afropop singer, songwriter, actress and activist. She won the Peak Talent Show in 2009 after which she signed to Effyzzie Music Group, and had a hit with her single “Johnny” in 2014.Since then Yemi has gained prominence in the music industry and considered one of the biggest artists in Africa. Following the releases of her albums King of Queens and Mama Africa with huge commercial success recorded for both albums, she embarked on world tours consecutively.
Alade released her debut album King of Queens on 2 October 2014, and the album produced her most successful single Johnny and other singles like “Kissing”, “Tangerine” and “Taking Over Me” featuring Phyno. The album was nominated for Album of the year at the 2015 Nigerian Entertainment Awards and the 2015 Headies Awards. On 25 March 2016, Alade released her second album titled Mama Africa which produced singles like “Na Gode”, “TumBum” and “Ferrari”. Mama Africa won the World beat Album on the 2016 Independent Music Awards.
She won the MTV African Music Awards for Best female in 2015 and 2016 consecutively and was nominated for Artiste of the Year in 2015, making her the first female to win the MAMAs for Best female consecutively twice and nominated for Artiste of the Year. In 2015, Alade was the first African female to be nominated for the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) and She was nominated for the BET awards for Best International Act: Africa in 2015 and 2016. Yemi is also applauded for her creative and overwhelming stage performances, fashion and music videos, She has won The Headies Award for Best Performer twice, 2018 and 2019. The slot was initiated at The Headies 2018 and she was the first artiste to win the category. Alade is also the second Nigerian and Afrobeats artist and the first female to hit 100 million views for a single video on YouTube after Davido. She also has the record for the most viewed female African music video and the first Nigerian female artist to hit 1million views on YouTube in 24 hours.
Alade sings in English, Igbo, Pidgin, Yoruba, French, Swahili and Portuguese. Her music has been of influence in many African countries and the world as she is acclaimed “Mama Africa” for her versatility in using different African languages and attires in her songs and music videos. Alade’s father was a police commissioner of Yoruba descent, while her mother is of Igbo descent.
On 9 June 2020, Alade was mentioned to be among the forefront artists/musicians from across the world to perform at The Global Goal: Unite for our future sponsored by the Global Citizen aimed to highlight the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic especially in the most remote places in Africa and across the world.[19] On 27 June 2020, Yemi Alade performed in the Global Goal: Unite for Our future alongside Miley Cyrus, Shakira, J Balvin, Jennifer Hudson, Coldplay, Usher, Justin Bieber, Quavo, Christine and the Queens and Chloe X Halle.
In 2022, The Scoove Africa ranked Yemi Alade The Best Stage Performer in Nigeria to date.
