Burna boy

Burna Boy in Ghana (2014)

Burna Boy (born July 2, 1991 in Lagos ; real name Damini Ogulu ) is a West African dancehall and reggae musician from Nigeria . He has been successful in his home country since 2012 and also internationally since 2018. He was best known for his participation in the UK number one hit Own It by Stormzy and Ed Sheeran and his album African Giant , both in 2019.

biography

Damini Ogulu started playing with music software on the computer at the age of 10 and over the years he developed his own style of music. Above all, he brought together two styles of music that played a role in his home: reggae was his father's preferred genre and his grandfather had been the manager of Fela Kuti , the founder of the indigenous Afrobeat . After graduating from school, he studied in England for two years, but dropped out and returned to Nigeria. He met the producer LeriQ and started professional studio recordings at the age of 19.

In 2012 he had his first hit under the name Burna Boy. The single Like to Party even attracted international attention and with the accompanying album Leaving an Impact for Eternity (LIFE) , on which Wizkid also contributed, he even entered the top 10 of the US reggae charts the following year. It also earned him a nomination in the Newcomer category of the MTV Africa Music Awards and national awards.

The separation of LeriQ and his label before his second album brought his career to a standstill. On a Spaceship could not confirm the first success and there were no more hits. Only the collaboration with the producer Juls brought him forward again from 2017. With the album Outside , he reached number 3 on the US reggae charts in 2018. Above all, however, he relied on collaborations with well-known artists such as Fall Out Boy , Major Lazer and Beyoncé . The collaboration with British musicians such as Lily Allen , J Hus and Dave proved to be particularly successful . Good Time as guest singer for J Hus brought him first place in the British singles charts in 2017 . Location with Dave rose to number 6 in the UK in 2019, the song became a long-running hit. It stayed in the charts for over a year, went double platinum and was nominated for Song of the Year at the BRIT Awards .

His fourth album, African Giant , entered the top 20 of the UK charts in the summer and was also successful in French-speaking countries. In the USA it reached a top 10 position on the world music charts. It was also nominated for an award in this category at the 2020 Grammy Awards . It was followed in the same year with Be Honest together with Jorja Smith , another English top 10 hit. After all, he worked with Stormzy and Ed Sheeran on Own It : the song rose to number 1 in the UK in early 2020 and was a hit across Europe.

The success also brought Burna Boy numerous personal awards. At the US BET Awards he was named Best International Act twice in a row , at the end of 2019 he was named Best African Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2019 and at the BRIT Awards he was nominated as Best International Male Solo Artist .

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
year	title	AT	CH	UK	US	Remarks
2019	African Giant	-	CH64 (1 week) CH	UK16 (12 weeks) UK	US104 (1 week) US	First published: May 6, 2016 Sales: + 100,000
2020	Twice as Tall	AT69 (... weeks) AT	CH12 (... weeks) CH	UK11 (... weeks) UK	US54 (... weeks) US	First published: August 14, 2020

More albums

2013: LIFE: Leaving an Impact for Eternity (First published: August 12, 2013)
2015: On a Spaceship (First released November 25, 2015)
2018: Outside (First published January 26, 2018)

Mix tapes

2011: Burn Notice (First published in 2011)
2011: Burn Identity (first published November 11, 2011)

EPs

2016: Redemption (First published: September 23, 2016)
2019 Steel & Copper (First published: March 21, 2019; with DJDS )

Singles

2011: Shobeedo
2012: Like to Party
2012: Tonight
2013: Run My Race
2013: Yawa dey
2013: Celebrate
2013: Won da mo (feat. D'Banj )
2014: rock star
2014: Don Gorgon
2014: Check and Balance
2015: Soke
2015: The Realest
2015: Rizzla
2016: Pree Me
2016: Mandem Anthem
2017: Hallelujah
2017: Rock Your Body
2017: Streets of Africa
2017: Koni baje
2017: Sekkle Down
2018: Heaven's Gate (feat. Lily Allen )
2018: Ye (UK:silver)
2018: On the Low
2018: Gbona
2018: Killin 'Dem (feat.Zlatan)
2019: Dangote
2019: Anbody
2019: Pull Up
2019: Money Play
2020: Odogwu
2020: Wonderful

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
year	Title album	DE	AT	CH	UK	Remarks
2019	Location psychodrama	-	-	-	UK6th × 2 Double platinum (59 weeks)UK	First published: July 15, 2019 Dave feat. Burna Boy; Sales: + 1,200,000
	Simmer Love and Compromise	-	-	-	UK46 silver (10 weeks)UK	First published: July 16, 2019 Mahalia feat. Burna boy
	Be honest	-	-	CH51 (3 weeks) CH	UK8th gold (16 weeks)UK	First published: August 16, 2019 Jorja Smith feat. Burna boy
	Own It Heavy Is the Head	DE75 (1 week) DE	AT57 (1 week) AT	CH27 (11 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (… Where.)UK	First published: November 22, 2019 Stormzy feat. Ed Sheeran & Burna Boy
2020	Jerusalema (Remix)	DE62 (... weeks) DE	-	CH2 (... weeks) CH	-	First publication: July 9, 2020 Master KG feat. Burna Boy & Nomcebo Zikode
2020	My Oasis	DE- ¹DE	-	CH52 (... weeks) CH	UK43 (... weeks) UK	First published: July 31, 2020 Sam Smith feat. Burna boy
The following songs did not appear as single, but were made available for download and streaming through the album and were thus able to achieve a placement:
2017	Good Time Common Sense	-	-	-	UK88 (1 week) UK	Chart entry: May 25, 2017 J Hus feat. Burna boy
2020	Play Play Big Conspiracy	-	-	-	UK11 silver (9 weeks)UK	First published: February 6, 2020 Jan Hus feat. Burna boy

¹ My Oasis could not be placed in the official German single charts, but reached fourth place in the single trend charts (August 7, 2020).

Further guest contributions

2018: Sunshine Riptide ( Fall Out Boy feat.Burna Boy)
2018: Your Choice ( Lily Allen feat.Burna Boy)
2018: All My Life ( Major Lazer feat.Burna Boy)
2019: Ja ara e ( Beyoncé feat.Burna Boy)
2019: No Option ( DJ Snake feat.Burna Boy)
2019: All In ( Wretch 32 feat.Burna Boy)
2019: Donne-moi l'accord ( Dadju feat.Burna Boy)

Awards

MTV Africa Music Awards
- Best Collaboration: All Eyes on Me (AKA, DaLes, Burna Boy & JR, 2015 )

MTV Europe Music Awards
- Best African Act: 2019

BET Awards
- Best International Act: 2019, 2020

Nominations:

Grammy Awards
- Best World Music Album : African Giant ( 2020 )

BRIT Awards
- International Male Solo Artist: 2020
- Song of the Year: Location ( Dave featuring Burna Boy, 2020)

MTV Africa Music Awards
- Best New Act: 2014

swell

↑ ^a ^b Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
↑ Gold / platinum database of the BPI (UK, database search)
↑ Official single trending charts. mtv.de, August 7, 2020, accessed on August 7, 2020 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Burna boy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ogulu, Damini (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Nigerian dancehall and reggae musician
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd July 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lagos , Nigeria