Timaya

Real name: Enetimi Alfred Odom, he was born on November 29 1977 in Port Harcourt Rivers State. He went to Folk Technical College and whilst there, he participated in Inter-School talent competitions, where he honed his musical skills.

He moved to Lagos to live with his elder brother and to further his education, he faced such financial difficulties that he had sometimes had to hawk Plantains to survive.

He started his music career in 2003, with a couple of early collaborations with some underground artist and was a back-up singer for Eedris Abdukareem, until he branched out on to a solo career, with the release of his first single "Dem Mama". in 2006 and his debut album "True story" in 2007. The follow-on album "Gift and Grace" was released in 2008, winning two awards "Album of the year" and "Best Reggae/Dancehall" album, at the Headies . As well two other awards for this album and for his collaboration with J Martin's in the monster hit- "Good or bad".

In 2011, he released two hugely successful albums "The rebirth" featuring the single "Plantain boy" and LLNP (Long life and prosperity). In 2012, he released the album "Upgrade", which featured two huge hits "Bum bum" and "Malonogede", featuring Terry G, Duncan Mighty and others.

He is an Ambassador for the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace.