Nigeria’s music industry has a King Midas He is not God; but he makes waves where there seems to be none. Some of his admirers believe that he could take a nursery rhyme to the World Music Awards and grab a plaque.
Born on November 26, 1982 as Michael Collins Ajereh, the Nigerian multi award-winning record producer and singer-songwriter better known as Don Jazzy is CEO of the Mavin Records label, which he founded in May 2012 after his split with his friend and partner, D’Banj. Before then, he was CEO of Nigerian record label, Mo’ Hits Records, founded in 2004. Born in Umuahia in Abia State, his first signing was D’Banj, who was at that time also the vice president of Mo’ Hits.
Productions
Don Jazzy’s first full credit production work was in 2004 on Tongolo for D’Banj. He went on to produce D’Banj’s first studio album, No Long Thing, released in 2005.
He has produced tracks for Dr. SID, Wande Coal, D’Prince, Darey Art-Alade, Naeto C, Olakunle Excel et Zanga, Sauce Kid, Ikechukwu and Tiwa Savage. He also collaborated with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the production of Lift Off, featuring Beyonce on the album, Watch The Throne, released on August 8, 2011.
The rave of the moment, ‘Dorobucci’, is something else. The song’s success made critics link it to occultism. Collectively composed by Don Jazzy, Tiwa Savage, Dr SID, Reekado Banks, Korede Bello, Di’Ja and D’Prince, the song that was released on May 1, 2014 to critical acclaim has been downloaded more than 12 million times since its release. Korede, TheNiche gathered, had been taken to Don Jazzy for internship last year. But the ‘Midas’ just turned him to a superstar with ‘Dorobucci’. His next outing, ‘Godwin’, some say, has taken him to cloud nine.
Don Jazzy was recently rated the 36th ‘Most powerful celebrity in Africa’ by Forbes. Why is he being compared to Midas?
D’Banj factor
When the harmonica player, Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo popularly known as D’Banj, released ‘Tongolo’ in 2004, many wondered what he was about to sing. In the midst of the confusion, Don Jazzy showed the stuff he was made of. He took the song and its singer, packaged them and made them award-winners. Under him, D’Banj won BET Award for Best International Act: Africa and MTV Europe Music Award for Best African Act. In fact, tongues wagged that Don Jazzy ‘fixed’ the awards for his ‘boy’. And when they parted ways, D’Banj became like a branch cut off from its mother tree. Problems set in. Even Tonto Dikeh’s work that D’Banj wanted to produce on Mo’ Hits label was said to have become a stillborn. At a point, it was alleged that D’Banj was broke.
Till date, the cause of their split is still under the realm of speculation. But the duo have attributed it to irreconcilable differences.
Life gets better
On the part of Don Jazzy, life gets better. He made a big break on the wake of the split. Samsung unveiled its ‘Built for Africa’ products, including an Afro-pop home theatre which has been developed through the EQ tuning of a sound-optimised equaliser – undertaken by Don Jazzy.
“Previously, in 2011, Samsung were focused on the consistent improvement on sound quality and levels – which they were very successful in. However, product innovations such as this one will drive the demand and brand loyalty towards their products far more and as long as they continue with this type of product development and drive I am sure they will continue to deliver strong, market relevant products – built specifically with the African consumer in mind,” Don Jazzy said after the launch in Cape Town.
Not known for singing, Don Jazzy recently stepped out for the other side of the studio, if only to tell D’Banj that a coach was also a football player. He now sings.
More touches
In 2008, the new ‘Midas’ touched Wande Coal’s Mushin 2 Mo’ Hits, an album that was described as one of the best to ever come out of Nigeria. And in 2011, his talents got him noticed by Kanye West who signed him up as a producer on his GOOD Music label.
The signing of Tiwa Savage, one of Nigeria’s leading vocalists, is seen as a major revolution for the budding record label, and Don Jazzy, who sees Mavin Records being the power house of Music in Africa in the shortest possible time, promised fans that there are many more exciting faces to be “activated” by the label in the near future. Who’s next?
…Even on politics?
And during the electioneering for the recent general elections, almost every entertainer in Nigeria – actors, musicians and comedians – queued behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and President Goodluck Jonathan, who seemed to have already won the presidential elections because incumbents were not known to lose elections in this clime. But to the surprise of Don Jazzy’s fans, he led The Marvins to perform for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Many wondered what this ‘success’ was doing with ‘failures’ – because APC, an opposition party, was not given as much chance as was given to PDP to win the election. At last, the ‘Midas’ touched the campaign trail of the now president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and gold it also became.
This showbiz guru has won Producer of the Year awards in 2006 (Nigerian Music Awards), 2007 (Nigerian Entertainment Awards), 2011 (The Headies – for the songs ‘Over The Moon’, ‘Mr Endowed’ and ‘Pop Something’) and 2014 (The Headies – for the song ‘Dorobucci’).
Early life
Don Jazzy’s family moved to Ajegunle in Lagos State where he was raised, and graduated from Federal Government College, Lagos. He went on to study Business Management at the Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Edo State. He had always had a flair for music – singing and playing the drums – from the age of four. He developed a passion for the bass guitar at the age of 12. He moved to London in the United Kingdom in 2000 on the invitation of his uncle, to play the drums for a neighbourhood Church.
Various odd jobs followed, including working at McDonalds and as a security guard. Already imbued with an intimate knowledge of traditional and percussion instruments, Don Jazzy further built on his musical knowledge during his UK stint. Finding fellow kindred spirits in the likes of Solek, JJC, Kas, The 419 squad and D’Banj, the gang would spend unrelenting hours practising, recording and performing different types of music.
His appetite for a full-time career in music could no longer be satiated when, in 2004, he partnered with D’Banj to set up the Mo’ Hits label.
