Timaya (born November 29, 1976) is a Nigerian singer and songwriter.

Timaya is an award winning Nigerian musician popular for socially conscious music that constantly references the role of God in overcoming difficult circumstances.

Early life

Timaya was born in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in the Southern region of Nigeria. He started from Port Harcourt. While in Port Harcourt. As a teenager in Nkpolu Oroworukwo Secondary School where he won so many awards in inter-school competitions and moved to Lagos to stay with his elder sister at his parents request so as to complete his secondary school education. He schooled at Ikeja High School in Mafoluku, Lagos. At one time in Mgbuosimini he was spotted hawking plantain.

Music career

He started out with a couple of early collaborations with some underground artists and was a back-up singer for Eedris Abdulkareem. He featured in an unreleased video by UDX, a rap group based in Lagos. Namse Udosen was one of his early mentors in the music game back in Lagos in the early 2000s. Namse Udosen (AKA Menthol X) laced the rap verse on Pomporo, a hit track on his debut album "True Story".

His first major hit was the song "Dem Mama" an account of the 1999 destruction of Odi, a riverine community in the oil producing Niger Delta, by soldiers hunting down militants whom where alleged to have killed 8 policemen. The village was burnt down and numerous people killed. Timaya bravely tackled the topic years later and won instant street credibility for his boldness.

Timaya is also called the Egberi Papa 1 (the peoples town crier) of Bayelsa or Mr. Timaya. Timaya is currently the rave of the Nigerian music scene, with a lot of other musicians interested in doing collaborations with him. He has collaborated with J Martins and P Square on the J Martins award winning Owey (Which Kind Life), with Kefee on Kokoroko, Spyder Man and others.

Discography

Albums

True Story (2007)

Gift and Grace (2008)

Timaya (2008)

Timaya Alabha

Awards

African Hip Hop Awards 2008, 2009

- Wikipedia