West African Idol winner Timi Dakolo was born in Accra, Ghana to a Ghanaian mother who passed on when he was thirteen.
The Bayelsa native was however raised by his grandmother and an aunt in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, who was responsible for his interest in music. He along with a few friends founded a music group
The Purple Love and performed in and around Port Harcourt until 2005 when they gained admission into the University of Port Harcourt and the group was disbanded.
Timi won his first music talent show G.E Factor held in Port Harcourt around 2005 and travelled to Calabar to audition for
Idols West Africa in 2006. He went ahead to become the winner of the music reality show, having secured the highest number of votes throughout the three weeks the show aired. He lost his dear grandmother one week after.
He released his first studio song in 2011, titled
“There’s a Cry”.and has had 1 album and several singles ever since. He was also one of the judges and a coach in the 2017 edition of
The Voice Nigeria TV reality show which saw one of the contestants in his team – Idyl winning the competition. He still sings in the church choir.
Timi started singing in church at the age of twelve. He survived a new years eve attack, in 2008, on his way out of a hotel in Porthacourt, where he had attended a church service, but the incident has not kept him away from church as he is still a prominent member of the church choir in his Lagos church.
Despite being born in Ghana, Timi is fully Nigerian. He has only a Nigerian
passport and does not lay claim to dual citizenship.
