| Biography |
Arguably one of Africa's finest vocalist and songwriters, Faze has locked down western African Hip-hop, R&B, Reggae and blues and with a unique blend which he tags "Universal Flavour". This allows the reason why almost every international act that comes around his vicinity likes to have a feel of his stuff on their records. This multi-platinum selling act has a record of pushing out nothing less than a million units on each of every release he has ever done. The brand new album "Independent" has already scored over a million from bookings before the release date! Born in the world’s most populous black city in Nigeria – Lagos, Faze was born a twin and fourth into a monogamous family of 9 children all talented with vocal gifts. He grew up singing at a very tender age. From the bedroom to the bathroom, to the kitchen, the compound, it was music all over the house. He says, "Growing up felt real good especially with the advantage of constantly having siblings who could assist with harmonies on tunes that could have flashed off the mind so easily. Some of these tunes account for some of my hits today. Morning prayers was like choir practice, based on our number we would sing hymns & songs for hours in different musical parts. It was basically fun all the way". Passing through primary and high school and performing at road shows and talent hunt competition exposed him to friends with like minds who after high school graduation introduced him to some new guys who came to town. This introduction metamorphosed into the full formation of a musical group that took the seemingly dead Nigerian music industry by storm. Plantashun Boiz as the group is called took over the entertainment industry becoming mentors to youths who were growing up in a frustrating society finding solace in being musicians and eking a living out of it. The group split prematurely after 2 albums and Faze had no option than to surge on. The spilt inspired the release of his first solo effort single and album titled "Faze Alone". With virtually no backups, "Faze Alone" ruled the airwaves, topping all the charts and hitting over a million units, and winning several awards. It was obvious that he was head on ready for a solo career. The success of his debut album "Faze Alone" raised stakes and the entire African community had no choice than recognise this talent who was a seeming underdog in his group then. A welcome performance for Wyclef on his visit to Nigeria confirmed all the speculations about his talent. He was spotted among over 50 acts by Clef and offered 16bars on the song "Proud to be African" released in Wyclef's 2004 album. Not stopping there, Faze is co-signing with Akon and is set to release a collaboration album with him by the end of 2007. His new album "Independent" just got released under his new label record label "Independent Entertainment". The label is set to take new acts into the industry to compete professionally. Real Names: Oji Chibuzor Richard |