Tiwa Savage is a wonderful singer who always blesses listeners with her brand new music. She has everything it takes to become a star: beautiful appearance, stage presence, charisma, and an angelic voice.
Maybe you would like to get inspired by Tiwa’s successes and check out her exciting life story. Read the history of Tiwa Savage and learn how she gained her fantastic success!
The full name of this incredibly talented singer is Tiwatope Savage-Balogun. However, she decided to adopt the shortened version of her name, Tiwa Savage, to become more memorable to the music fans. She is not only a brilliant singer, but she also writes songs, performs, and acts in the movies and music videos. Tiwa Savage can do anything – she is a woman of multiple talents.
Life history of Tiwa Savage
These days, Tiwa Savage has a profitable deal with Don Jazzy’s label “Mavin Records,” where she is usually recording her songs and music videos, and collaborating with the other artists under Don Jazzy’s protection. This is truly something to be proud of. But how did she make all her dreams come true, and what is the story of her life? All this, and more, you can learn if you continue reading this article. You can learn everything you wanted to know about Tiwa Savage here.
Tiwa Savage biography, career, and personal life
The young Tiwatope Savage was born on February 5, 1980, in Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State. Many people ask: “How old is Tiwa Savage?” The answer about Tiwa Savage age is – she is 38 years old, turning 39 soon.
Tiwa Savage parents raised their daughter in the multicultural home. When she was eleven years old, the mother of the musician, Cecilia Savage, and her father have moved away to London.
Tiwa had a passion for music from the young age: when she was a high school student, she played trombone in the local orchestra band. When the musician was only 16, she got the opportunity to be a backup vocalist for the legendary singer George Michael. She also lent her vocal recordings to many other prominent musicians, for instance, Mary J. Blige, Kelly Clarkson, Emma Bunton, Andrea Bocelli, and others. She also had performances on the same stage together with 50 Cent, Eminem, Destiny’s Child, Robbie Williams, Sting, and The Black Eyed Peas. Even before Tiwa Savage started her professional career, she was already quite experienced.
One of the most beautiful musicians in Nigeria graduated from the Business administration faculty at the University of Kent, receiving a degree in this discipline. Afterward, she got the job at the Royal Bank of Scotland, but she still enjoyed music and never left her dream to become a professional singer. She finally made it come true by enrolling at the Berklee College of Music, the private college in Boston for professional singers. At the age of 27, she graduated from this college with a degree.
When she remembered the experience that she got during her time in the United States, she confessed that the younger students inspired and motivated her with their passion and determination. The business education of Tiwa Savage also played a huge role in the forming of her career as a singer, because it helped her see the clear picture of the music industry in Nigeria. She said that at this point she is a professional and is immune to any kinds of deception.
Music career of Tiwa
2006 was the year when Savage became a participant of the X-Factor show in the United Kingdom. She showed reasonably good results in the competition and managed to advance to the final 24, but she did not make it to the live shows. Her participation in the show coincided with her studies at Berklee College of Music. The musician had difficulties with suddenly being in the limelight and meeting people’s expectations. Tiwa Savage also said that she was really upset when she did not make it to the final 12, but Tiwa was trying her best to contain her emotions because she wanted to be an example and role model for the people who were watching her.
The stars, however, aligned later for the girl to become a music star. She never stopped working on her career, and three years later, in 2009, she was signed to the Sony/ATV Music Publishing Company. They appreciated Tiwa’s amazing songwriting talent and hired her to write songs for the most famous performers. Some examples of people that she wrote songs for include Kat Deluna, Mya, Monica, and Babyface. Tiwa was a songwriter for Monica’s beautiful ballad “Catch Me.” Furthermore, the song that she wrote for Fantasia Barrino called “Collard Greens & Cornbread” gained the artist a nomination for Grammy Awards 2010. There are many more songs that Tiwa wrote for other artists, but she always said that it is more enjoyable and rewarding for her to write her songs.
In 2009, Tiwa Savage was a background singer on the album of the music legend Whitney Houston, titled “I Look to You.” She was a co-host at the show “Nigerian Idol” in 2011. The musician also made an acting debut on stage, in the play called “For Coloured Girls,” where she starred together with Ireti Doyle and Joke Silva. Tiwa Savage got the title of the first female artist from Africa to work together with Pepsi when she signed the lucrative deal with this brand.
2012 was marked with Savage joining the new label of Don Jazzy, “Mavin Records.” The compilation album of this label called “Solar Plexus,” which came out in the same year, featured Tiwa as one of the leading singers and many other musicians.
Along with this, Tiwa Savage was working on her first album, which she started working on back in 2010. She also networked together with some fellow Berklee College of Music alumni. The debut album of Tiwa Savage was teased to include the recordings in her native language. The singer still had enough time and energy for appearing on the records of the other artists. For example, her vocals have been featured on the Flavour N’abania collaboration “Oyi Remix,” which the two artists worked on together in 2012. Before collaborating with this artist, Tiwa Savage recorded this song and released the version of her own.
During the celebrations of the 52nd anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, Tiwa Savage performed the national anthem of Nigeria in her rendition for Ndani Sessions. 2013 was the year when Tiwa made her final preparations for the debut album, by throwing a party in one of Ikoyi’s hotels, where the guests could listen to the songs. Later, the songstress revealed her tracklist and announced that the featured artists on the album would be Sarkodie, General Pype, and Iceberg Slim. Finally, on July 3rd, 2013, the long-awaited Tiwa Savage’s album, which was titled “Once Upon a Time,” was released to the Nigerian music lovers. The day before the official release in the country, Tiwa’s album was dropped on iTunes.
For this album, Tiwa Savage had a lot of inspirations. She mostly wanted to portray her life in a positive light and motivate the young musicians. The message of the album was that once upon a time, Tiwa Savage herself was a young girl who had a dream to become a music star, and she achieved her goals. However, except the positive and uplifting songs, there were some with political subtext, for example, the song “Middle Passage,” which portrayed how African people struggle in foreign countries.
Tiwa Savage is not only a great singer but also the youth empowerment activist. Except that, she was involved in a lot of projects all across Nigeria, which were created to raise awareness about breast cancer and provide the screening. Tiwa Savage also held a fundraiser for the organization from her hometown, which built new schools. Tiwa Savage has a lot of endorsement deals with such companies as MTN Nigeria, Pepsi, Maggi, and Forte Oil. She consistently signs up new ones, which are worth lots of money – for example, her MTN Nigeria endorsement deal was reported to be worth N30 million.
Tiwa Savage met a lot of challenges when she first appeared on Nigeria’s music stage. She did not know what is expected of her, and what she has to wait from the music industry. The young singer received a lot of hostile words from those people who believed that female artists do not make it in the industry, and said that she would never be as popular as Wizkid and 2Face. Except that, many people tried to talk her out of settling down in Nigeria and starting her music business there. However, Tiwa Savage was immune to all the types of criticism, and she just continued making music that she enjoyed.
When her debut single from the album “Once Upon a Time,” called “Kele Kele Love,” was released, this song very quickly appeared on top of the charts in Nigeria. Tiwa Savage music won the hearts of many people and continued being relevant today.
The singer started 2014 on a high note, releasing the promotional song “Love in Yellow” for Valentine’s Day. This single’s producer was Spellz, who gave it an unforgettable sound of funk and R&B. Tiwa Savage collaborated with her fellow Mavin Records artist Reekado Banks on his single “Turn it Up.” None other than Don Jazzy produced this song.
In general, 2014 was a productive year not only for Tiwa Savage but also for her label. Mavin Records have released the collaborative song with the vocals from all the prominent artists, including Tiwa Savage as well as Dr SID, Reekado Banks, Di’Ja, Korede Bello, D’Prince, and Don Jazzy himself. This single was titled “Dorobucci,” and became the first collective release from the label since their compilation album “Solar Plexus”.
In May 2014, Tiwa Savage was revealed to have worked on one more song, produced by WizzyPro. It was “Girlie O’ Remix” by Patroranking. Tiwa Savage participated in the music video shoot for this song, which was directed by Moe Musa in London. This video appeared on the Vevo channel of Patroranking. Next month, Tiwa participated in the MTV Africa Music Awards, performing there with such stars as Davido, Miguel, Flavour N’abania and many others. Tiwa was just in light of her recent music video release for the song “Wanted” from her debut album. It had a considerable backlash due to the hot and steamy nature of the video.
In 2015, Tiwa released her second album called “R.E.D”, the release of which fell on December 19, 2015. It contains a lot of featured artists, such as Don Jazzy, Dr SID, Olamide, 2Face, D’Prince, Iceberg Slim, Reekado Banks, and Busy Signal. Produced by Don Jazzy, this album became a long-anticipated hit of Tiwa Savage and was warmly accepted by her fans. R.E.D. was an acronym for the words “Romance, Expression, and Dance.” For the album promotion, Mavin Records have created a special website, where they allowed the users to make the meme with their version of this acronym and their photos.
Tiwa Savage also participated in the recording of the charity song for the campaign “Africa Rising” by DSTV. She collaborated with such artists as Davido, Diamond Platnumz, Sarkodie, Lola Rae, and Mi Casa. This record was created with the purpose to inspire the African people to take part in the projects for the community that foresee social investments. This song also had a music video, the production of which was supervised by Callback Dream, the production house from South Africa. All the artists that took part in the recording performed this composition together at the launch ceremony of “Africa Rising,” which took place in Mauritius.
In June 2016, the exciting news about Tiwa Savage came out – it was reported that she signed a profitable deal with Roc Nation, which is a world-known label that produces famous stars. Some of the artists from this label are Rihanna, Big Sean, DJ Khaled, Shakira, Grimes, and Demi Lovato. Tiwa Savage later confirmed the deal, and she became the first Nigerian musician who was signed to this label.
Tiwa Savage released another album in 2017, which has become her third. It was titled “Sugarcane.” Tiwa’s fans were thrilled with the release of this album, and she responded by sending them all the love. Usually, Tiwa does not even call her fans “fans” – she says that they are like a family to her, who inspire her and always make her continue doing things she loves and can do best.
Tiwa Savage wedding
The singer used to be married to TeeBillz (real name Tunji Balogun), who was her manager in the past. They founded the 323 Entertainment label by joining their forces. The two have started out as good friends but later decided that they want to enter a romantic relationship with each other.
Their traditional wedding took place in November 2013, and for the wedding location, they chose the Ark, which is in Lekki, Lagos. They were united in a place that truly looked like a fairytale. Tiwa Savage was wearing beautiful traditional wear in mostly white colors. She had her bridesmaids dressed in beige and pink gowns. As for the groom Teebillz, he also chose the attire in the coloring similar to his bride’s. The best man of the groom was none other than the singer Banky W. A lot of Nigerian stars, including such giants as Don Jazzy, Davido, and Olamide, attended the wedding and performed there.
Not long afterward, on April 26th the next year, Tiwa Savage and Teebillz had a white wedding in Dubai. The ceremony took place at the Armani Hotel. It was a beautiful and expensive wedding, with Tiwa Savage wearing a magical white gown, and her husband looked handsome in an elegant suit. They also have a huge wedding cake with splendid decorations. Just like their traditional wedding, this ceremony also had plenty of celebrity guests.
Tiwa Savage son
In January 2015, on New Year’s Day, Tiwa and Teebillz had announced that they were expecting a child together. 22nd July 2015 was the day when the Nigerian music star finally gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Jamil Balogun. For a while, the happy parents tried to hide their son from the public eye. However, a few months later Tiwa started posting pictures of her little boy, and he turned out to be the most adorable child ever.
Tiwa Savage divorce
The first drift in the couple’s relationship appeared in 2016 when Teebillz accused his spouse of infidelity. Tiwa Savage has fired back, debunking these claims and, in turn, accusing him of wasting money, abandoning her and being an irresponsible father to their baby. She also said that their marriage is over and she will not be returning to him.
Even though at first it seemed like Tiwa and Teebillz will never be on good terms again, they have made up later. They still attend their son’s birthday parties together and take care of him. But they are no longer a couple, and Tiwa is actively searching for someone new, with the rumors connecting her to many famous people. She is still officially single, but we are hoping that she will find someone she deserves.