The 63rd Grammy Award ceremony which was held on Sunday, March 14, 2023 brought a lot of joy to Nigerians as two of the biggest artistes in the country, Burna Boy and Wizkid bagged an award each.
The two however are not the first Nigerian singers to achieve the laudable feat, there have been quite several people before them who have won a couple of times or earned nominations.
We have put together a list of Nigerian celebrities home and abroad who have a Grammy nomination or awards to their name.
1. Sade Adu
The Award-winning singer/ songwriter is the first artist of Nigerian origin to win the prestigious award as she won her first Grammy in 1986.
Sade, through the course of her career, has 4 Grammy awards to her name; she got the last one in 2011.
2. King Sunny Ade
The veteran Juju singer/songwriter has 2 nominations to his name, but no wins yet. He was first nominated at the 26th Grammy awards in 1983 and then at the 41st in 1999.
3. Sikiru Adepoju
The percussionist and recording artist won his first Grammy in 1991 as part of Mickey Hart’s group Planet Drum. He bagged his second award with the same group in 2009 at the 51st annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
4. Seal
Seal is popular for the 1994 song ‘Kiss from a Rose’ which earned him three Grammy awards in 1996. In 2011, the British-Nigerian singer/songwriter bagged his 4th award.
6. Wizkid
The award-winning singer just bagged his first Grammy award at the 63rd ceremony on March 14 for his feature in Beyonce’s Brown Skin Girl. He was previously nominated in 2015 for featuring in Drake’s album.
7. Babatunde Olatunji
Olatunji was a talented Nigerian drummer, he was part of Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum projects, including the album Planet Drum. The album won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album of 1991, the first year for which the award was given. He passed away sadly, in 2003.
8. Lekan Babalola
Lekan Babalola is a Nigerian jazz percussionist and musician, with two Grammy awards in his career.
He won his first Grammy in 2006 to become Nigeria’s first Grammy Award winner for his work on Ali Farka Touré‘s in the ‘Heart of the Moon’. His second Grammy came in 2009 for his work on Cassandra Wilson‘s 2008 album titled ‘Loverly’.
9. Chamillionaire
The rapper clinched a Grammy in 2007 for his song ‘Riddin’, under Best Rap. He got a total of four nominations that year.
10. Kevin Olusola
The talented young man is a musician, beatboxer, cellist, rapper, record producer, singer, and songwriter best known as the beatboxer of the vocal band Pentatonix. He has 3 awards to his name, he won back to back in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
12. Burna Boy
Burna’s first nomination was in 2020, his album, African Giant was in the Best World Music Album category. His latest album released last year, Twice as Tall earned him his first win on March 14.