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Who is Asa?
Born on the 17th of September 1982, Bukola Elemide famously known as Asa is a Nigerian-French singer and songwriter. She hails from Ogun State but spent most of her early days in between Paris, Lagos, and Jos.

Her songs are such that resonate with different types of people because her lyrics are based on her own real life experiences.
Asa’s net worth is valued at an estimate of $10 million.
Asa’s family
Asa’s parents
Asa’s father Akin Elemide, moved to Paris to study cinematography and was working as a Nigerian Embassy Driver. Her mother Arsah Elemide soon joined her dad and was also studying cinematography. Her parents were already dating in Lagos, Nigeria before they moved to Paris where they eventually got married and gave birth to Asa.
Two years after Asa’s birth, her parents returned to Nigeria and her dad, who acquired lots of filming equipment, started leasing the equipment for movie productions.
He also delved into event coverage and would usually do voiceovers for the footage while editing them. He also added background songs to the footage and Asa thinks it’s part of what sparked her love for music. He used to play songs from the likes of Bob Marley, James Brown, and Fela Kuti. She often tried to mimic these artists by singing in front of the fridge and watching her reflection.
Asa’s dad passed on in 2016 and Asa once disclosed that she regrets not having the opportunity to give him a piece of her mind. She actually thinks he’s an asshole because he was abusive to her mom and was an extreme disciplinarian.
She even mentioned that at a young age, she had advised her mom to leave her dad because of his abusive nature. Her mom eventually left her dad and moved back to Lagos from Jos.
Her mother, Arsah got a job with NTA and later switched to textile trading. She was largely involved in business and trade.
Is Asa married or dating?
Asa is not married yet and she doesn’t have kids. She made it open that she was once in a relationship but at the time of putting this article together, it’s not known whether she has developed another relationship or not.
Asa’s journey: from singing in front of the fridge to singing on global stages
After the family’s return to Nigeria, Asa was enrolled in Subuola School in Lagos but her dad moved her to a public school because he thought they had too much. The idea of attending a private school didn’t make sense to him. Asa even recalls that she used to walk barefoot to school when her sandals were bad though her father had enough money to fix them or get a new one.
In an interview session on ‘Bounce’, Asa disclosed that it was in the public school that she learned how to be street smart and was wrongly exposed to some street tricks like how to steal her classmates lunch.
From the public school she was moved to Christian Council which is a private school. Asa believes the move was solely her mom’s initiative as her mother was more concerned about the quality of education she was given.
Life in Jos
Asa father wanted to start a new life so he decided that the family would move to Jos. Asa was moved first. Her mom sent her to a boarding school called – Federal Government College Jos.
What was life like for Asa in the boarding school?
Asa describes it as a semi nazi camp. She recalls when she got into SS1 and her welcome was a harsh beating from a senior who forcefully became her school mother and would send her alongside other juniors to go steal corn and potatoes from neighboring farms. Worse was, failure to steal anything would attract heavy beating so Asa alongside other juniors who were forced to become the senior’s school children had no choice but to go out and steal.
It was a very terrible experience for Asa and she always dreamt of walking back to Lagos from Jos.
Did Asa love her childhood?
Not really. Asa didn’t like childhood because of the toxic experiences that defined that phase of her life. The only thing she liked about her childhood was the music: listening to music and trying to perform secretly to herself.
Did Asa have boyfriends while in secondary school?
Well, no. Asa had no boyfriend at all while in secondary school. A major reason for this was because she thought the boys just wanted to play games and distract her. She didn’t trust the boys because she was focused on pursuing her dreams in music. Asa feared the prospects of bearing a child at such a young age and she knew that asides what her parents may do in response to such, having a child would delay her chances of pursuing music, so she avoided relationships.
Asa’s life after secondary school: little events that shaped her music career
After secondary school, Asa moved back to Lagos to stay with her grandparents. At that time, her parents were separated. She got tired of staying at home and asked her mom to take her to Alade market to go look for a job.
She successfully got a job as a sales attendant in a shoe making shop but only worked for four days and fired herself.
What happened was she came late to work on the fourth day and the boss went street on her so she fired herself and moved on to the next opportunity.

But what was the next opportunity?
Down the road where her former workplace was, Asa had seen an advertisement calling for singers and dancers to join a competition that was to be aired on TV.
Asa went all out for the competition, but she didn’t plan to sing initially. She only wanted to dance because aside from her mom, every other person around her kept telling her that her voice was terrible.
So getting to the competition ground a group of rappers who also came for the competition reached out to her because according to them, she looked interesting. They wanted to know what she does, so she told them she came to dance but that she can also sing although she’s shy about it.
The rappers invited her to join their crew so they could all perform together in freestyle. Fortunately, the crew won a thousand naira prize (back then 1 thousand naira was a big deal).
But guess what Asa did?
She didn’t share the prize with the crew and they couldn’t do anything about it. That’s quite a plot twist. She revealed during the #blackboxinterview that she didn’t share the sum with the crew because people had noticed her voice and was inviting her to come do background vocals for them, so she needed transportation to get around for those jobs.
What did Asa’s family think about what Asa was doing?
At the time when all this music stuff was going on, Asa was living with her grandma and granny was an independent woman so she loved that Asa was working to make her own money.
The only issue Asa had was with her mum and dad. Her dad was persistent that no daughter of his would be a musician.
On the other hand, her mum really didn’t understand what Asa meant when she explained that she goes to the studio to do backup vocals. She actually thought it was the same thing as sleeping around.
It took grandma’s voice and assurance to convince Asa’s mom to let Asa continue with the whole backup stuff.
Making moves to drop out from Lagos State University (LASU) and moving to Peter King Music College Badagry
Asa successfully got admission into LASU to study Theatre Arts. She actually chose that course because it was a bit close to music. Asa was only able to stay in LASU till her second year when she finally decided that she wanted to do just what she wanted.
So she dropped out of LASU and moved to Peter King Music College for six months, after which she got on the road and started performing, going for more competitions, and she even went on tours with Tony Allen from Port Harcourt to Ghana and everywhere.
Was Asa scared when she dropped out of school?
Scared of dropping out of school? Absolutely not! Asa had this blind confidence, she saw herself on the big stage and she was determined to do what needed to be done to get on that stage. In her words, “…I was super happy even when I was suffering. I didn’t know that I didn’t have anything to eat. I went to Paris as a student and would only spend 1 Euro a day because I needed to save money to come back…”
How did Asa meet her Manager Janet Nwose?
It all happened in 2003 at The French Culture Centre in France when a friend was introducing his friends to another set of friends that he also had. So he introduced Asa, who is his friend, to Janet Nwose who was also his friend. Janet was a photographer then.
Sometime after the meet up, Asa got an email from Janet. She wanted to work with Asa to document her journey as she rises. Asa accepted and Janet started working with her to capture moments from her rehearsals and performance.
Linking up with Cobhams Asuquo
Bringing Cobhams in the picture was all Janet’s idea. She introduced Asa to him and that was how they started working.
After dropping ‘Eye Adaba’ Asa went back to Paris for a scholarship and when she heard that her song was making waves in Lagos; she decided to come back and continue recording.
While working with Cobhams, Asa dropped three albums
Asa seems to take very long breaks before dropping her albums, why is that? And what does she do in between?
Starting with what she does in between, Asa takes two years to tour for each of her albums.
But why? Because she doesn’t like forcing music. She likes to put out something tangible and most of her songs are based on her own experiences.
What’s the toughest part of Asa’s musical journey?
The toughest part of doing music for Asa has been the business aspect of it, especially the way contracts are structured. It makes music feel like a business to her and to her music is passion first not business first. So there’s always this inner conflict as to whether to give up the whole thing or just take it as it is.
She mostly finds the strength to continue when people reach out to her and say they were almost giving up but her music made them push further.
Asa net worth and assets
Asa’s net worth is valued at an estimate of $10 million. The singer lives a very private life so there’s no reliable information on whether she owns a house or car.
Asa singles and albums
Singles
2007 – Fire on the Mountain
“ – Jailer
2010 – Be my Man
2011 – Why can’t We?
2012 – The Way I Feel
“ – Ba Mi Dele
2014 – Dead Again
2015 – Eyo
2019 – The Beginning
“ – Good Thing
“ – My Dear
Albums
2007 – Asha
2010 – Beautiful Imperfection
2014 – Bed of Stone
2019 – Lucid
2022 – V
Asa has also been on some movie and commercial soundtracks. Here’s the list:
2007 – She did ‘Kokoya’ for the movie ‘The First Cry’
2009 – Asa created ‘The Place To Be’ for GTBank
2011 – It was ‘Zarafa’ for the animation movie ‘Zarafa’.
Commercial and movie soundtrack creations are part of what has grown Asa’s net worth.
Asa awards
- In 2006, Asa became the first person to receive The Headies ‘Next Rated’ award.
- 2008 showered her with the ‘Prix Constantin’ award from France
- In the same year, she also won ‘Recording of the Year’, award at Headies.
- Still in 2008, she won ‘Album of the year’ award at The Headies.
- Then in 2012, she was nominated for the French Music Awards ‘Victoires de la Musique’ for “Female Artist of the Year”.
Summary
Asa is a Nigerian-French singer with an estimated net worth of $10 million. Raised between Paris, Lagos, and Jos, Asa’s music reflects her diverse experiences. Despite a challenging childhood with an abusive father, Asa’s made it to the top without losing her sanity. Her educational journey also shaped her resilience.
Life in Jos’ boarding school was tough, but Asa found solace in music. No teenage romances, just a focus on her musical dreams. Asa’s fearless determination led her from LASU to Peter King Music College, embracing struggles on her path to the big stage.
With Janet Nwose and Cobhams Asuquo, Asa’s unique approach involves two-year breaks between albums, producing tangible, experience-based art. Her singles and albums, from “Fire on the Mountain” to “V” in 2022, showcases her unique sound.
Awards, including The Headies and Prix Constantin, celebrates her outstanding contribution to the music industry. Asa’s journey inspires young people to navigate their paths with resilience, independence, and a passion for transformative art.
Here are some lessons you can learn from Asa’s journey to greatness:
- Do not give up in the face of adversity. Be resilient and follow your dreams.
- Trust your instincts and take calculated risks to pursue your aspirations.
- Aspire to contribute meaningfully to society through your work and passion.