waHOLAAA!! ...all the Gist..HEAR ALL ABOUT IT!!: WHO IS NIKKI LAOYE?

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

WHO IS NIKKI LAOYE? - THE LADY, HER MUSIC & THE HEADIES

Nikki Laoye (styled by Yolanda Okereke)

Top Nigerian Urban/Contemporary singer, Nikki Laoye recently clinched the award for the Best Vocal Performance by a female at Nigeria's prestigious awards event, The Headies on the 26th of December, 2013. Nikki won the award for the fantastic performance of her single 'Only You', beating the likes of Waje, Niyola, Seyi Shay and Zaina.

It was an emotional Nikki that walked up the stage in tears to receive the award as she gave the most memorable speech ever recorded in the Nigerian music industry, dedicating the award to her father and God.

The song in question which got her the award, "ONLY YOU", was dedicated to the memory of her father, Prince Olushola Isaac Laoye, who passed away in her arms 2 years ago. His picture is included in the ending clips of the song's video.

This would be Nikki's 3rd nomination at the Headies as she was first nominated in two categories in 2009 - Best Vocal Performance (Female) alongside Waje & Omawumi and the only female contender in the HipHop World Revelation category alongside Banky W, MI & Naeto C.
Nikki Laoye was also the opening performing act at the 2009 Headies with one of the most fantastic performances ever recorded..She was rated 3rd on the top 10 perfomances of the nite, after Darey and 2Face, who were rated 1st and 2nd respectively.

Nikki Laoye stepped into the music scene in 2006, with the hit single, "Never Felt This Way Before", the alternative rock song which took the industry by storm and got 7 award nominations in a year including KORA, Headies, Nigeria Entertainment Awards(USA), City People Awards and more.

In 2009, Nikki was one of the headlining acts at The Experience 2009, performing before a crowd of 500,000 and caught the eyes of the crew from top American channel, BET, who had come into Nigeria to cover the musical concert.

That same year, Nikki would be one of the 1st three Nigerian Artistes to be interviewed on the channel with another special feature tagged "BET SPOTLIGHT-NIKKILAOYE" in 2011, focusing on her career, family & loss of her father.

2013 was a major comeback year for the artiste who had been on a hiatus from the music scene. She began to gather massive attention once again with the release of two hit singles - "1-2-3" and "Only You", both produced by her brother, Xblaze and RotimiKeys respectively.

Nikki performing her dance hit "123" with Alien Nation Dance Team

Both received multiple nominations since the beginning of the year as "Only You" double trended on twitter at its release on the 12th of April 2013 and dance hit, "1-2-3" became a crowd pleaser instantly with Nikki's captivating stage performances of the song.

In May 2013, Nikki Laoye, in collaboration with Mo Abudu's EbonyLife TV, recorded her own version of The Nigerian National Anthem. The video is recognised as the official video of the anthem and receives massive airplay across the globe.

In August 2013, Nikki Laoye was one of the headling acts at the popular Nigerian Corner of the Nottinghill Carnival, London UK as well as the Mary J Blige concert in September 2013.

A songwriter, talk show host and humanitarian, Nikki Laoye has written many popular movie soundtracks and TV jingles including Etisalat's 0809ja 4 Life(co-written with Cobhams), as performed by Banky W.

She hosts her own radio show, Girls Rock with Nikki Laoye every Thursday, 5pm-7pm on Nigeria's online Gospel Radio Station, PraiseWorld Radio (www.praiseworldradio.com), promoting female artistes and entepreneurs within Africa and beyond.

She is also the founder of Angel 4 Life Foundation, an NGO that focuses on the social and educational development of visually impaired and physically challenged youths in Nigeria.

Nikki Laoye is also the Project Manager for top media company, Wahala Media Entertainment(same company that manages her career) as well as the Chief Editor of its online blog, WAHOLAAA.