By Brian Okoth
To you, he is Burna Boy. To the government and international agencies, he is known by his birth name Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu.
The award-winning musician was born on July 2, 1991 in Port Harcourt, a city in Nigeria's southern state, Rivers.
Burna Boy, who comes from a family of three children, is his parents' only son. He was brought up in an upper-middle class household.
Many people got to know about Burna Boy in 2012, but his journey in music started when he was 10 years old.
Passion for music
Though his parents approved of his passion for music, they told him that he first had to complete school.
Burna Boy attended a private primary school in Port Harcourt, and thereafter joined a secondary school in Ogun State. He completed high school education in 2008.
Burna Boy's mother Bose Ogulu, who is also the musician's manager, said in a previous interview that during Burna Boy's childhood, her son always hung around his grandfather so that he could listen to classical music.
The grandfather managed Afrobeat star, Fela Kuti.
Signs for Aristokrat Records
After high school, Burna Boy's parents enrolled him at the United Kingdom's University of Sussex to study an undergraduate degree in media technology.
In 2009, Burna Boy was transferred to Oxford Brookes University to complete his course in media communications.
In 2010, the musician returned to Nigeria and pursued a one-year internship at a radio station in Port Harcourt.
It was during his internship that he channelled his energy to music. He then signed for Aristokrat Records.
Establishes own record label
In 2012, the song "Like to Party" thrust Burna Boy to fame. The track became the lead single on his album titled "L.I.F.E" which was released in 2013.
"Yawa Dey", "Always Love You", "Run My Race", and "Tonight" were among the other notable songs on the album.
It was "Yawa Dey" that introduced Burna Boy to the rest of Africa.
In early 2015, the artiste left Aristokrat Records and founded his own record label called Spaceship Entertainment.
Sells out Wembley Arena
Under his label, he has released at least four other albums, which have been immensely successful.
In 2019, Burna Boy became the first Afrobeats artiste to sell out the Wembley Arena in London, the United Kingdom.
His fourth studio album "African Giant", which was released in July 2019, had hit songs such as "Gbona", "On the Low", "Anybody", among others.
The album was nominated for the Best World Music Album category at the Grammy Awards in 2020. He however lost the award to Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo.
Grammy Award winner
That same year, Burna Boy recorded his fifth studio album titled "Twice as Tall". The album won the Best World Music Album in the 2021 Grammy Awards.
The musician was dating British entertainer Stefflon Don, but the relationship ended in 2021 after more than three years.
Burna Boy, who has at least 40 million followers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X, has won more than 60 career awards.
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