4 Reasons Why Banky W Is ‘KING’ of Nigeria’s R&B

Olubankole Wellington a.k.a Banky W is a Nigerian singer born in the United States on March 27th, 1981. Fast forward 34 years later he is a leader in Nigeria’s music scene. Mr. W and his family moved to Nigeria when he was 5 and began singing in the church like most Nigerian musicians at age 8. He did his secondary school in Lagos but won a scholarship in New York for his polytechnic education. As he adds another year today, we celebrate the career of Banky Wand why he is indeed Nigeria’s king of R&B today. 1. CONSISTENCY Since breaking into Nigeria’s music mainstream after the release of ‘Ebute Metta’, a cover of Rihanna’s Umbrella many years back, Mr. Capable has never had a down time. He remained on the forefront of Nigerian music scene which is a difficult thing to do in a business where we have so many one hit wonders. Although Mr. Wellington has released several pop songs like many other R&B singers in the world like Mary J Blige, Usher, Whitney Hoston, Alicia Keys, Maria Carey… Most of his songs come across as R&B and is arguably the only rhythm and blues singer in Nigeria that has been able to compete with industry heavyweights like D’Banj, 2face, Wizkid. Banky W has since released 4 projects, 1 EP (Undeniable) and 3 albums (Back In The Building, Back In The Building, Mr Capable and R&BW) 2.DYNAMISM: Banky Wis the most dynamic musician in Nigeria’s music mainstream at the moment and can be compared to Drake in the U.S. With every new song he releases or features in, you never know what to expect. Something like Yes/No? Something like Jasi? or maybe a rap verse like he did on DJ Jimmy Jatt’s E To Be? Banky W’s last album, R&BW is filled with several genres of music and he doesn’t restrict his craft. On Unborn Child, off R&BW, he featured a rapper in Lynxxx but he still delivered a rap verse that even M.I will be proud of. He is also a video director now despite being a very successful music artiste. The hunger for more is what you don’t find in many people but Mr. Bankole has it. 3.GREAT BUSINESS ACUMEN Not anywhere in the world is a R&B artiste in the forefront of music business but Banky is doing it and doing it big term in Nigeria. The 34 year old baldie currently represents telecommunication giants MTN and South Korean technology giant Samsung. He also recently signed a major deal with Ciroc. Ciroc usually prefer rappers and tough singers as their representators but Banky Wdoesn’t need to do hip hop to represent Ciroc brand, D’Banj is the other man that also represents the brand in Nigeria after Olamide apparently, failed, to get the deal done. Banky has since gone to S.A to do promotions for Ciroc and also appears on several banners for Samsung and MTN. Prior to MTN, Banky W represented Etisalat and is well credited as the one that helped the coy break banks thanks to his jingle, 080-9ja For Life, released 2008. Remember he sang a world cup theme song for Coca-Cola? Banky Walso led arguably Nigeria’s most profitable record label in the last 5 years in EME, although the label’s influence since the departure of Wizkid has downsized. But anytime any day, a man that signed & brought Wizkid into limelight and made money off him is a genius. 4. LEADERSHIP Banky W successfully led Empire Mates Entertainment for years a label that had “baddest boy” Wizkid, Skales, Shaydee, Niyolaand himself at the same time and everybody had to eat. The formula wasn’t particularly easy for him. He had to push Wizkid to the limit sometimes at the detriment of his own career, Skales was also affected… But like most record label, the most profitable artiste has to remain on the front-line. Skales was the one that was most affected by this style but he still ate, Banky W ate, Shaydee did, Niyola is on fresh. If 10 musicians are in a room, and Banky W asks for a minute to address the audience i bet all my penny, even industry icons, 2face, D’Banj and P-Square will be interested in what he has to say. As a philanthropist, he launched the “I AM CAPABLE” scholarship fund, which provides tuition, room & board at private universities for youth who are in need and meet the grade requirements. He’s also on the board of trustees of the “LightupNigeria” Project, which is focused on achieving constant electrical power supply in Nigeria, as well as various other charitable society building and empowering projects. Banky played a major role in mobilising the Nigerian youth to participate in the Occupy Nigeria series of protests in January 2012. The protests were to resist the implementation of the government’s fuel subsidy removal policy.