Meet Tiwa Savage!

If you have read the Weekly Music Commentary for a while, you understand how I feel about the entire world of entertainment.  As I have written before, “with the growth of technology the world grows increasingly smaller“. While I sit in my corner of South Florida in the US, this article is being read by others in countries like Russia, China, England and several countries on the African continent. Just knowledge of my worldwide audience and hearing from some of you continues to push me to widen the scope of Weekly Music Commentary.  However, I have been a fan of world literature, art and music for some time. I had the pleasure to study world history and culture in college and upon leaving I continued to embrace the art of my neighbors around the globe. Most recently I have enjoyed Nigerian movies and music which led me to the featured artist this week: Tiwa Savage.

Many of you reading may not know anything about Tiwa Savage for a couple of reasons: 1) she is somewhat new to music as a solo artist and 2) it’s possible you have not been exposed to Nigeria’s music scene. If one or both of the previous reasons apply in your case do not feel bad. If all goes according to plans you may hear much more about her very soon.  Tiwa Savage is not new to the US and UK because she has spent a chunk of her life in both places respectively, even though she was born in Lagos.  At age 16 Ms. Savage got her start singing background for George Michael. That tremendous induction into the music industry has lead to a great deal of work with some of the most notable artists in the industry. Just look at the list of musicians to whom she has lent background vocals: Mary.J. Blige, Chaka Khan, Blu Cantrell, Emma Bunton from The Spice Girls, Kelly Clarkson, Andreas Bocelli, Sting, 50 Cent, The Black Eyed Peas, Eminem, Robbie Williams, and Destiny’s Child.  In addition, Tiwa Savage is well known as a prolific songwriter. In 2009, SONY/ATV signed Tiwa to a singer/songwriter deal and she has written for some of the most renowned artists and producers including Babyface, Kat Deluna, Monica and Mya. In 2010 she earned a Grammy award nomination for her songwriting contribution on Fantasia Barrino’s song “Collard Greens and Cornbread”.  

Tiwa Savage is not an artist with a little natural talent who happened to get a break into the music business. She is a 2007 graduate of Berklee College of Music and that underscores her natural musical abilities.  Ms. Savage has now arrived armed with songs as a solo artist and ready to release an album to a world of awaiting music fans. Interestingly, Tiwa Savage is not a teenager but an adult of thirty-three years old. Thirty-three is considered old to start a career in the music industry. Even artists who spend much time climbing the ladder via the background vocal route as Tiwa Savage has done normally don’t start a solo career after age thirty. Nevertheless, Tiwa Savage seems ready to do something different than most today. As you can see from her photo she is a very beautiful woman, who can only be helped by that fact in her quest for success. She also is a very polished performer as you will see from her videos and concert performances.

Most importantly, Ms. Savage has an understanding of the music business as she owns her own record label, 323 Music Entertainment, and working on her album under Don Jazzy’s Mavin Records. The first lady of Mavin has signed a multi-million naira deal to become the face of Pepsi, the first African to sign such a deal. Overall I do appreciate that Tiwa Savage has stuck to her Nigerian musical roots, a fact that is important for the success of Mavin Records and other Nigerian artists to follow her path. I am really looking forward to her album Once Upon a Time. Something tells me that Tiwa Savage is going to make more history in Africa and throughout the musical world.