Celebrity Of The Week: Olubankole “Banky W” Wellington [@BankyW]

After a week that is undoubtedly not a very good one for Mr Capable, and in our plight to shine a better light in the “Jasi” crooner, #MikellzBluez is grandly making BANKY W the Celebrity of the Week.

Waking up one morning like always, said my prayers and went straight to my phone to check my twitter timeline, which is actually the first thing I do each time I wake  every morning—not as an addict but a normal daily routine. The first post I saw was a very funny headline that reads “Oops! See Banky W Sucking A Girl’s Boobs In A Pool”, I wasted no time in opening the link and to my greatest surprise I saw exactly what I read: a picture of Mr Wellington sucking a lady’s cleavage with another lady—wow! Photo editing wonders shall never end… or what other explanation can best say that wasn’t a W Experience? Oh! Nigga in that image must be a lookalike….

HIS LIFE

Olubankole Wellington was born (March 27, 1981) in the United States to Nigerian parents, but the family moved back to Lagos Nigeria when he was five years old where he began singing in his church choir at the age of 8. After completing his secondary school education at Home Science Association Secondary School, he moved to New York to attend college on a scholarship; earning a degree in Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

While still in college, he won the ‘Albany Idol’ competition, which catapulted him into the spotlight. He overcame many personal trials and obstacles to quickly become an in-demand artist on the local music scene; performing alongside major acts on tour.

He wowed audiences with his silky smooth voice while building a loyal following; he established the Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E.) record label as a platform to get his music to his fans and began work on an EP.

HIS CAREER

2003–2004: Undeniable

Under the name Banky W, he released the EP “Undeniable” in 2003, as the first release on his jointly owned E.M.E Records. The EP was released on his own label, and was sold on the internet and out of the trunks of cars. The buzz around the album caught the ears of the executives at Fox 23 News New York who promptly dispatched a reporter with a camera crew to investigate the phenomenon sweeping the area. They were surprised it was a three person company executing a highly successful grassroots marketing campaign. The report became a two part special they aired leading to a distribution deal with TransWorld (Coconut’s, Warehouse Music, Spec’s Music); one of North America’s largest music distributors.

It became one of the top selling independent records, won him the 2003 R&B/Soul Artist of the Year at the Urban Independent Music Awards. His career was for a while threatened by cancer in the shoulder, but he managed to make a recovery from the illness.

2005–2006: Back in the Building

In 2005 he released his first album, titled “Back in the Building”, containing the award-winning song “My Regret”. The R&B/Soul album was released to critical acclaim; he had crafted a classic record and solidified his status as ground breaking artist. The album spawned the award winning song “My Regret” and on the strength of this enduring single he became an urban-underground-yet-international icon. The awards and accolades followed with a US Song-writing Award, 2006 Nigerian Entertainment Award—R&B/Soul Artist of the Year and 2007 International Single of the Year to name a few.

Banky followed this up by winning the prestigious worldwide John Lennon Songwriting Award in the R&B Category and signing a lucrative US publishing deal. He was also a featured artist on AOL and Cingular Wireless Hip Hop Superstar with MTV’s Xzibit. Numerous magazines covers and touring North America, Africa and Europe followed suit.

2008–2009: Mr Capable

In 2008 he moved to Nigeria after the completion of his latest highly anticipated album “Mr Capable” under the name Banky W  with the sole mission of exposing African music to the world and bringing a high profile presence to the industry. On MySpace he garnered over 1 million song plays; on YouTube, hundreds of thousands of views for his videos; and on Facebook, his recently created fan page has over 26,000 registered fans, growing at a rate of over 500 new fans per week.

2009–2010: The W Experience

In December 2009, Banky W dropped his much anticipated second album in Nigeria, titled “The W Experience”. A strong contender for the best album of 2009/2010 in Africa, as it features production from Nigeria’s most sought-after talents. Banky W combines global R&B/Pop with African rhythms and influences to create an entirely unique and impressive sound. The 15-track album features collaborations from the internationally acclaimed and Interscope-signed artiste, Verse Simmonds; it also introduces his newly signed E.M.E acts, WizKid and SKALES; and solidifies Banky W as the crown Prince of African Soul/R&B.

2012 -2013: R&BW

A day after Valentine of 2013, he launched his new album “R&BW” with a concert tagged the “The Grand Love Concert” at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos, which featured several other artistes including Iyanya, Waje and more. The first two singles from the album “Lowkey” and “Yes/No”, which has a spectacular video to it, are already receiving rave reviews… and now everyone is talking “JASI!”

LOOKS WE LOVE

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Awards

John Lennon Song Writing Award 2006, R&B Category, for ‘My Regret’

Best R&B Artiste, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2006

Best Male R&B Artiste, Urban Independent Music Awards, USA, 2006

Best International Album, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2007 for ‘Mr Capable’

Best R&B Video, Nigerian Music Video Awards 2008 for ‘Don’t Break My Heart’

Best Male Vocal Performance, Hip hop World Awards 2009 for ‘Don’t Break My Heart’

R&B Single of the year, 2010 Hip Hop World Awards for ‘Strong Ting’

Best R&B Singer (Male) and Best Music Video 2010 City People Entertainment Awards

Nominations

Best R&B/Pop Album (Mr. Capable), Hiphop World Awards 2009

Hiphop World Revelation 2009

Best Pop/R&B (Don’t Break My Heart), Soundcity Music Video Awards 2009

Best Male Video (Don’t Break My Heart), Soundcity Music Video Awards 2009

Best R&B Singer, City People Entertainment Awards 2009

Musician of the Year, Future Awards 2009

Best International Artiste, Nigerian Entertainment Awards 2009

Recording of the Year, Best Vocal Performance (Male), Hip Hop World Awards 2010

Musician of the Year, Future Awards 2010

Artiste of the Year, Dynamix Awards 2010

Semi-finalist, African Artiste of the Year, KORA Awards 2010

Best Music Video and Best R&B Act, 2010 Nigerian Entertainment Awards

Banky W single-handedly started Empire Mates Entertainment (E.M.E) Records years back, paving way into the music industry locally and internationally… and now “Banky Warrior” can boast of many achievements which include bringing up big names in the industry like WizKid, Skales, DJ Xclusive and signing other acts like Shaydee and Niyola. Also having in his bunk numerous awards, nominations, endorsements and other achievements, Banky is undoubtedly one of the best R&B Singers in Africa!

HIS BESTS

Choosing by his most popular work(s); songs and videos that have won him most awards and nominations, we bring you Banky’s Bests….

Song

“EBUTE EMETA” and “STRONG THING” are his all-time best songs.

Video

We chose the Clarence Peters directed video: “YES/NO” … or is it “JASI” or “STRONG THING”?

Album

And someone just screamed “THE W EXPERIENCE!”

AMAZING FACTS ABOUT BANKY W

Do you know that Banky is a diehard Arsenal fan?

The “W” in Banky W’s stage name doesn’t stand for Wellington, it actually stands for Warrior; you can guess what the weapon is—the head? I didn’t write it oh….

Banky has been brand(s) ambassador more than any existing artiste in Nigeria—hustler l’omo

Banky’s best food is chicken breast and sea foods—is somebody obsessed with mermaid here?

Do you know that Banky dislikes photo-shoots but likes video-shoot?

Banky’s EME is the oldest most active record label in Nigeria.

Banky is an Engineer and also loves to write.

Banky is an American citizen.

Banky’s best hobby is cooking.

Chibuzo Nwadike | @Iam_SirHugoboss [twitter]

[Sources: Wikipedia, Amebo Pulse Reloaded, hiphopmagazine.com]