Deborah Oluwaseyi Joshua popularly known by her stage name Seyi Shay is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and performer.
Background
Although she is very much Nigerian, Seyi Shay was born and raised in Tottenham, London to a mother who is from Northern Nigeria and a Yoruba father (from Ife). She however attended secondary school at Command High School, Maryland, Lagos and then went back to London for university.
Sheyi Shay started exploring her passion for music when she was still young, she joined her church choir and was also part of the highly acclaimed London Community Gospel Choir. Being part of the choir afforded her an opportunity to perform in 13 Japan cities during their world tour when she was just fourteen. She went on to study music at a local college in UK but also studied business management at the University of East London.
Music Career
Her music career started with her signing a record deal with No Apology a company affiliated George Martin. Seyi Shay went on to participate From Above UK singing show after which she became the lead vocalist for the five girl group Boadicea. The group which was signed to Matthew Knowles (Beyonce’s father) company- Music World Entertainment company. The group even had their MTV reality show Breaking From Above which was aired in about 166 countries across the globe. Even after the group disbanded Seyi Shay retained her management deal with Matthew Knowles and got herself a recording contract with Sony. She however left Sony for Flytime after getting an sizeable offer from them.
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She then returned to Nigeria to start off her solo career under the record label- Flytimes. Her first single Irawo and Ragga Ragga were both successful and paved her path to limelight in the music industry. She followed them up with the top charting Murda ft Patoranking & Shaydee and then released Crazy ft Wizkid. She released Right Now produced by Harmony Samuels in 2015.
Before the start up of her solo career in Nigeria Seyi Shay had also worked with international stars like Justin Timberlake, Brian Micheal Cox, Darey, Michelle Williams and H-Money. She has written and produced three soundtracks for Konami’s video game- Crime Life: Gang Wars in 2005, a song (You Will See) for Melanie C’s third studio album Beatifull Intentions, and another song (White lies) for Chipmunk’s Transition album.
Seyi Shay left Flytimes in signed a record deal with Island Records in 2015, she released her debut studio album Seyi or Shay in the same year.
Awards
Wins
- Best New Musician of the Year (Female) award at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2013
Nominations
- Best Vocal Performance (Female) award at the The Headies in 2013
- Next Rated award at the The Headies in 2013
- Best New Act of the Year award at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in 2013
- Artiste of the Year (Female) award at the Chase Awards in 2013
- Song of the Year award at the Chase Awards in 2013
- Best Female & Video of the Year award at the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) in 2015
- Most Gifted Female award at the Channel O Music Video Awards in 2014
- Musician of the Year (Female) award at the City People Entertainment Awards in 2014
- Female Artist of the Year award at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards in 2014
- World’s Best Song award at the World Music Awards in 2014
- World’s Best Video award at the World Music Awards in 2014
- World’s Best Female Artiste award at the World Music Awards in 2014
- World’s Best Live Act award at the World Music Awards in 2014
- World’s Best Entertainer of the Year award at the World Music Awards in 2014
Net Worth
Seyi Shay’s Net Worth is estimated to be $2.1 million.
