Biography of WurlD

Sadiq Onifade popularly known as WurlD is an American-Nigerian singer and songwriter. He’s one of the fast rising artiste who has carved a niche in the music industry with his genre of music – electro-fusion. His unique feature goes beyond his signature blue-coloured hair but more into the power of his music.

Early life and background of WurlD

Born on 2 January, 1987 in Lagos, Nigeria into a family of ten. His dad had two wives and he is first child of his mum. WurlD relocated to the United States as a teenager and earned a degree in Computer science from Georgia State University. While studying, he fell in love with music and song-writing. As a child, WurlD listened to Fuji music, Juju and Afrobeats which helped shape his electro-fusion sound. The blue-haired singer also attributed his stay in Atlanta as an influencing factor in his choice of music.

His Rise to Fame

In 2012, WurlD released his first single, “Beyond Our Dreams” off his debut EP titled Evolution. On the release of “Evolution“, Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC) held an exclusive listening party at their Atlanta office. WurlD has collaborated with American artists — Mario, Trinidad James, B.O.B and Scotty ATL. He provided hooks for Trinidad James “Still Aware” featuring Scotty ATL, B. O. B songs “ I Know” and “Fake Friends”. WurlD also worked with Timbaland’s artist, BK Brasco as a featured artist on “Beautiful Girls.” He also appeared in the visuals.

In 2015, WurlD broke the music scene with  release of “Show You Off,” a collaboration with Nigerian producer Shizzi, and Major Lazer’s Walshy Fire. Since then, he’s captured the hearts of all, grown his artistry and carved his afropolitan niche into the music industry. His single “Follow you ” featuring Polish disc jockey, DJ Gromee was critically acclaimed, making airwaves in the Eastern part of Europe like Denmark, Poland. WurlD described it as his biggest feat. Following the success of his first studio album, he released a second EP titled “Love is contagious” on 28 March, 2019. The album centres on love, from the infatuation stage to the commitment stage. His single “Contagious” is a fusion of Nigerian juju music with pop and R&B. WurlD co-wrote the hit song “Blow my Mind” by Davido featuring Chris Brown in 2019.The song was produced by Davido’s long time collaborating producer Shizzi.

2019 was indeed a milestone year for the singer. He teamed up with award-winning producer Sarz On The Beats on his 8-song EP,  I Love Girls With Trobul. The project was ranked No 1 on Nigeria’s iTunes charts with highly-addictive jams like “Trobul” and “Ego”.

Speaking on his stage name with The Guardian Magazine, the singer said,

The first few songs I created as an artiste were constantly referred to as world music by close friends, which I shared with them.

The name was initially spelt as World, which stuck with me as I was constantly referred to a world music artiste. I later changed it to WurlD, which is the same pronunciation, but easier search on the web.”

He further revealed the inspiration behind his signature blue hair. He stated that blue is his favourite colour, emphasizing that it worked easily when he first tried it on his hair and he has the colour ever since.

WurlD Relationship

The afro-fusion artist has been able to keep his relationship life off the public scene. He’s not in any publicly known relationship.

Awards and nominations

In 2017, he received a nomination for Best Diaspora Act at the Nigerian Entertainment Award alongside Rotimi and Wale.

His track Wishes & Butterflies won him an award for ‘Best Vocal Performance’ (Male) at the 2019 Headies Awards.

He was nominated for the category of Hip Hop World Revelation at the 2019 Headies.

WurlD Net Worth

The “Show you off” crooner is the next big thing in the Nigerian music industry. His net worth is estimated to be between $1 million – $5 million dollars.

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