Davido - Net Worth, Career, Early Life

Davido is a Nigerian-American musician that has managed to collect billions of streams over the last decade. Born in the United States, the professional singer and songwriter quickly rose to fame throughout the continent over the last decade. As an afrobeat artist, Davido managed to leverage his fame within the African continent to expand into the United Kingdom.

This, along with his family’s personal wealth, secured a staggering net worth of around $200 million.

Davido’s Net Worth

Davido was born in Atlanta, Georgia. While this is surprising to many, Davido was born into wealth through his father, Adedeji Adeleke. Davido’s mother was a lecturer at a university while his father was a massive business magnate in Nigeria. While the official numbers are not known, it’s rumored that Davido’s father is worth roughly $1,7 billion.

Davido was the youngest of five children and attended school in Lagos, Nigeria. He moved around to complete his studies before finding a true passion for music. While his decision to pursue a music career was not smooth sailing, Davido managed to find his feet and release a number of tracks that helped him become a household name in Nigeria.

Davido was not just naturally gifted but also dedicated time to mastering his craft. He moved to London to work with vocal coaches to find and perfect his vocals. During his time in London, Davido managed to create and publish music under his own independent name.

Davido then returned to Nigeria in 2011 to pursue a degree in music at Babcock University. In July 2015, Davido graduated from the music department that his father personally funded. During this time, Davido was regularly releasing new music and gaining popularity online.

In 2017, Spotify announced that the Nigerian artist actually surpassed 1 billion streams around the world. This made him one of the most popular artists in the world. Davido has worked with artists around the world and performs in the UK and the US.

This popularity is one of the main reasons the Nigerian artist can boast a net worth of $200 million.

Interested in learning more about the African artist? Here’s a quick breakdown of everything you need to know about Davido.

Early Life

Despite what many people may think, Davido was actually born in the United States. Davido was born on the 21st of November in 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father and mother lived in the United States for a while, with his father receiving his academic qualifications in the United States as well.

Davido’s mother was a lecturer at a university while his father had significant business interests in Nigeria. Davido’s father is one of the wealthiest people in Africa, with many estimating his net worth to be around $1,7 billion.

Davido grew up in Lagos where he attended the British International School. He finished high school at the age of 16 and decided to relocate to the United States to study business in Alabama. It was during his time in Alabama that he developed a passion for music.

While at the university, Davido purchased musical equipment and began learning how to create music of his own. He worked with family that was also studying in the United States and created a few beats of his own. Davido realized that this was what he wanted to do with his life and dropped out of university.

Davido knew that he could make it in the world of music and decided to move to London to improve his skills. He moved to London and took lessons to improve his singing voice. During this time, he started releasing music of his own before moving back to Nigeria in 2011.

Due to the fact that Davido dropped out of university to pursue his career, his father made an arrangement with him to come back to Nigeria and complete some form of studies. This saw Davido return and attend Babcock University in 2011.

Here, Davido completed a degree in music and graduated from the program in 2015. However, it should be noted that Davido graduated from the music department that was entirely funded by his father, with Davido being part of the inaugural class that consisted of himself alone.

During this time, Davido was regularly releasing music under his own name. This saw him gain popularity throughout Africa and the rest of the world. This popularity helped him land a lucrative deal with Sony Music in 2016.

Career

Davido’s career was not as simple as it may seem. While other artists start early, Davido took a slightly longer route to the top. As arguably the most successful and wealthy African artist, Davido released music under his own name while studying in Nigeria.

Davido managed to win the Next Rated award in 2012 at The Headies with his single, Dami Duro. This was the second single to come from his debut studio album, Omo Baba Olowo, in 2012. Davido was an incredibly active artist, releasing a bunch of hit singles in the last decade.

These smash hits helped him land a massive deal with Sony Music in 2016. This deal saw him found his very own record label, Davido Music Worldwide. This record label holds all of Davido’s music but also acts as a catalyst for other artists.

The record label has signed a number of artists over the years, the most notable being Dremo, Mayorkun, and Liya. Davido released an EP in October of 2016 that included one of his most popular singles, Coolest Kid In Africa with South African rapper, Nasty C.

The popularity of this single and the EP allowed Davido to take Sony Music back to the negotiating table. The negotiations surrounded topics that were close to Davido such as creative control over the projects that he wants to pursue. While the official outcome of the negotiations was not released to the public, it has been widely reported that Davido ended up gaining the artistic freedom that he desired.

This saw Davido create some of his most amazing work. Later that year, Davido released IF and Fall. These two singles managed to break all kinds of records and became the longest-charting Nigerian song in Billboard history. These songs managed to make Davido an international success, launching his international world tours.

Capitalizing on the success of his singles, Davido released his second studio album in 2019. This included a single with Chris Brown and secured him a spot as one of the most influential Africans in the world.

Businesses

Davido is a successful musician but also a smart businessman at the same time. Davido started his own record label in 2016 when he signed for Sony Music. However, Davido wanted more creative control over the projects he worked on and was not afraid to walk away from Sony Music to make that happen.

He managed to successfully renegotiate his deal with Sony, allowing him to create the music that made him one of the most popular African artists in the world.

Davido has always been a smart businessman and even signed endorsement deals with massive brands before releasing a full album. One of the most notable deals happened in 2012 with telecommunication giant, MTN. Davido signed a deal worth 30 million naira to make him the face of a campaign for the brand.

The following year, Davido signed another massive deal with Pulse Nigeria. This deal saw him perform at the Guinness World of More Concert in Nigeria. Here, Davido performed alongside some of the most popular artists on the continent. The lineup included the likes of P-Square, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Olamide, and Waje.

Despite performing as an independent artist, this kind of exposure helped Davido build a brand for himself in the music industry. This allowed Davido to perform at other events around Nigeria, ultimately landing him a deal with Sony Music in 2016.

Entertainment Industry

Davido also made a unique appearance as one of the roasters on the Comedy Central Roast of AKA. While Davido was never one to enjoy time in front of the camera, he took the world by storm by participating in the Comedy Central event in 2019.

Davido leveraged the attention to release his third studio album, A Better Time, in 2020. This managed to secure him a nomination for the Album of the Year award at the All Africa Music Awards later that year.

Endorsements

After gaining mainstream success, Davido managed to raise his price with local and international endorsements. As the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria saw billions of investments flood into its borders in the last few years. This saw international companies look for local starts to spearhead their marketing campaigns.

Despite official numbers not being published, many rumors have circulated that Davido managed to rake in hundreds of millions of naira through endorsements with Martell, Infinix Mobile, and 1xBet, the sports betting website and app.

Relationships

Davido is 29 years old and is not married. However, he has been dating Chioma Rowland for a long time and has recently proposed to her in London. Davido is a prominent member of society in Nigeria and has close relationships with politicians and royalty within the country.

Giving

Davido is widely regarded as the most financially successful artist in Africa. While many are skeptical of how much wealth comes from his family, it’s no debate that Davido is incredibly wealthy. However, the Nigerian artist is as generous as he is wealthy.

In 2021, Davido took to Instagram to ask his fellow colleagues to send him a million naira. He managed to speak to a number of his friends and collect 200 million naira by the end of the day. He then added another 50 million naira to the sum and donated a total of 250 million naira to local orphanages in the country.

This donation was not done lightly as Davido set up a 5-person team to help oversee the funds. This team helped collect and account for all the money as they made their way to orphanages around Nigeria.

Davido’s Family

Davido comes from one of the wealthiest families in Africa. Most publications estimate that his family is worth anything from $1,7 billion to $2 billion. Despite this, Davido’s father insisted that he receive a formal education before signing a record deal.

Davido was gaining traction within the music industry between 2012 and 2015. However, his father insisted that Davido remain in Nigeria and complete his degree before pursuing a career in music. This did cause some tension within the family, but Davido ultimately complied and graduated in 2015.

Davido is not married but has a number of children from a few different women.

The Essence of Davido

Davido is the most successful African artist. Born in the United States, Davido has produced some of the most popular songs to hit the continent of Africa. This immense success leaves him with a net worth of $200 million.

Our net worths are for entertainment purposes only. We do our best to provide accurate figures, but we cannot guarantee their accuracy. The figures are based on public information and estimates, and may not reflect the true value of assets or liabilities.