Oluwatobi Wande Ojosipe (born 18 October 1985), popularly known as Wande Coal, is a Nigerian singer[3] and songwriter.[4]
Early life
Wande Coal was born on 18 October 1985 in Lagos Island, Lagos state, Nigeria, to Chief Ibukun Olufunto and Omolara Oluwayemisi Ojosipe. He is the first of two children.[5]
Wande Coal started singing in the teenage choir at his church.[7] He got his first break in the Nigerian entertainment industry as a dancer. He got signed to Don Jazzy's Mo' Hits Records in 2006 and was featured on D'banj's Rundown/Funk you up album on singles such as "Loke", "tonosibe" and "why me".[8]
Being signed to Mo' Hits records, he is also a member of the Mo' Hits allstars and played a major role in the released CV (Curriculum Vitae) album. His first single of the CV album, "Ololufe", has been described as one of the greatest love songs ever written by a Nigerian. Coal later released his debut album Mushin 2 Mo' Hits which was widely received across Nigeria, UK and the USA.[9]
Wande Coal won the Best R&B/Pop Single at the 2010 edition of Hip Hop World Awards.[10] He won the African Artiste Of The Year category at the Ghana Music Awards in 2010.[11]
2012–2015
Coal has also recorded tracks with other Nigerian artists including Ikechukwu, Phyno, Davido, Naeto C, Dr SID, D'Prince, Wizkid and many other artists. In 2012 following a fallout between record label Executives Don Jazzy and D'banj, Coal, Dr SID and D'Prince signed on to Don Jazzy's new Record Label Mavin Records with the addition of Tiwa Savage from 323 Entertainment acting as the first lady of Mavin Records. Wande Coal left Mavin Records on November 7, 2013 due to intellectual property theft of a song with the same lyrics as Don Jazzy's lyrics. In November 2013, he released a single called "Baby Face" as the song that he got departed from Mavin Records for.[12] In 2013 he launched his music label Black Diamond Entertainment.[13]
2017–2022
After a long hiatus, Wande Coal dropped his second album Wanted. Most reviews of the album placed him on a slightly above average scale.[14] Coal released a single Tur-Key Nla in December 2017. He kicked off his 2020 with a single track titled "Again", produced by Melvitto.[15] He just released another Single in 2021 titled "Come My Way".[16] In 2022, he was featured on the rapper, Olamide‘s single, Hate Me, which was released in February 2022[17] He also re-released his album “Mushin2Mohits[18][19]
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