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Who is Yemi Alade and what’s her net worth?
Yemi Eberechi Alade aka Mama Africa, aka Yemi Alade is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, actress, activist, and philanthropist from Ogun State in Western Nigeria born on the 13th of March 1989.
She’s known for her energetic and vibrant music that blends Afropop, highlife, dancehall, pop, and R&B. Her music has reached fans across Africa and around the world. More than that, she’s a powerhouse in the African music scene and a role model for many.
Yemi’s rise in the music scene is slightly different from that of other stars as she never wanted to become an artist. She just loved music and that was it. However, after she won the 2009 Peak Talent Show edition, she realized she could make a good career out of it. Her performance earned her a record deal and got signed to Effyzzie Music Group. You would have heard her say ‘effyzzie’ at the beginning and end of her earliest songs. Yea, she was shouting out to her record label.
Asides revenue generated from music, Yemi has several endorsement deals that has contributed to her massive net worth that’s estimated to be $5 million. Converted to Naira, that would be ₦7,955,300,000.00 (seven billion nine hundred fifty-five million three hundred thousand naira).

Yemi Alade’s parents and siblings
Yemi Alade’s father, the late James Alade, is a retired CP – Police Commissioner. And her mum, Helen Uzoma, is a business woman from Abia State in Eastern Nigeria.
Yemi has four brothers and two sisters. She’s the fifth child out of seven.
The most known of Yemi’s siblings is Durojaiye who was endorsed as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) after graduating from the Nigeria Police Academy in 2019. In a post on Instagram, Yemi celebrated his graduation. In the caption, she said, “I can’t Contain My Joy! My Not So Little Baby Brother @alade_durojaiye just graduated with a B.Sc in Psychology and thus endorsed as ASP of the Nigerian Police Force!
“Thank you for your service! I’m so proud ! So happy! You are truly the son of our dad Late Commissioner of Police, Provost Marshall J.A. Alade!! I swear I am not crying , someone is cutting onions!
“It is such Intellectuals Nigeria deserves as their security personnels! Book smart, psychologically sane and skilled and physically fit !!!!”
“I LOVE YOU BRO. I LOVE YOU.
“(I can still land you a heavy slap even though you are taller 6’1 than me, we are not mates????????) Happy graduation!”
Yemi Alade’s husband and children
In January 2021, it was rumored that Yemi and Patoranking were in a relationship. Fans stirred the rumor after Patoranking tweeted a photo of Yemi with the caption “Mon Bebe ❤”. He repeated the post on his Instagram too.
In response, Yemi commented saying, “Thanks papi ”.
Immediately, fans assumed that they were having a romantic affair and blogs spread the assumption too. However, neither Yemi nor Patoranking confirmed the rumor so there’s no proof that they’re entangled in any way.
Social media blogger, Tosin Silverdam, also made claims that Yemi Alade is married to Taye Aliyu, her talent manager whom she has worked with for several years now. Again, there’s no proof for this as Taye and Yemi have not confirmed their union in any way.
So we close this chapter on the note that Yemi Alade is not married yet and does not have a child either. Updates would be made when any of those two events eventually occur.
Yemi Alade’s educational background
Yemi attended St. Saviour’s British School in Ikoyi and Victory Grammar school at Onigbagbo Estate in Ikeja Lagos.
She’s a graduate of the University of Lagos where she studied Geography.

Life before fame
All through primary and secondary school, Yemi lived with her parents and it was a very strict life void of parties. Whenever there was a birthday in school with an open invitation, her mom would take her and her siblings to shop for new clothing for the party. However, she never saw the party ground.
In her words, “…I’m ready for this party but on the day the door is locked, though I’m fully dressed and ready, I can’t go . My dad has said his daughter is not going anywhere. He has told his wife that his daughter is not going. So I got used to it and I just didn’t bother anymore”.
By the time she got into the university, it was freedom overloaded. She explored everything that seemed interesting. In her own account, she said, “So as long as I’m in school, I’m allowed to do everything that’s on school grounds, right? And so I indulged in every single one of them. I was in a math class, I was in the Jet Club. I was a Brownie. I was a gymnast, obviously a singer. I did ballet, football, basketball, and I tried karate. But I tried it too late. I didn’t know that I had it in me to be fighting. And so I was everywhere in school and as long as it did not affect my academics, they were fine with it”.
You’d notice so far that she really wasn’t pursuing music. Yea, she was also singing in school but it wasn’t the focus, she was just exploring and trying out different things with her new found freedom. She confirmed this during an interview saying, “It’s was always a passion and I was very hopeful to see where it would lead me, where it would take me. Did I feel like I needed to drop everything I was doing in life and focus solely on music? No, because I love the idea of it, but I’m not sure I wanted it. I did not want it to be a career. I did not see it as a career. It was a big hobby I was very invested in, but not a career. If you had asked me 11-12 years ago if I wanted to be a musician, I would not pick that as a career choice. I still wasn’t into it for real. As much as I was representing all my schools, as much as I was into a lot of music related stuff, I just believed that yes, so this hobby I would do something with time. But I’m going to continue focusing on my academics like my parents want me to. I also thought it was good for me because I might need it to actually get a job”.
She had a lot of focus on getting a job because while she was still in school, her dad was prematurely retired for some undisclosed reasons. Things became tough for her family and sometimes she had to soak garri. Previously, her family house used to be a community dwelling, where relatives and non relatives visited and lived with them. According to her, her dad was a ‘father Christmas’, he was way too generous. But considering his early retirement, he struggled to keep up with taking care of his own immediate family.
Describing her dad, Yemi said, “My dad is the gem that you probably would go generations before finding in any police force. I mean the kind of guy that takes no bribe. We’ve had brand new cars sent to the house that he sent back, he doesn’t take. And I’m 100% sure that that’s
one of the reasons why he was prematurely retired. Because he was legit, only legit, everything about him was legit. He didn’t do any hanky panky. He tried to live his life within his wages”.
The change in her father’s career affected her mentally as she began to feel like she was a nobody. The transition was too huge and quick for her to absorb at once. Imagine going from a life with rooms full of food and everything that you need for a lavish life and all of a sudden, the only option you have is to soak garri.
As stated by Yemi, “…so I was just this young girl with little or nothing, trying to make something from this world that has nothing to offer”.
At that point, Yemi had to give herself a pep talk. “I had to look myself in the mirror and be realistic,” she said, “I said to myself, you have to be realistic at this point in time. Yes, you were this and you were that but now you are nothing. You are nobody. You have to get up, get out, and be somebody. And that involves talking to people you’ve never met, talking to people who might not want to talk to you. Being in spaces that might make you uncomfortable, doing things that might make you uncomfortable but will not change who you are, or take away your integrity”.
With that pep talk, her life changed because she embraced her reality and that was ground zero.
How Yemi Alade got into the Peak talent show
It’s totally fine if you assume Yemi participated in the Peak talent show because of her earlier decision to be somebody after the pep talk. The real story is a plot twist that will make you feel like Yemi Alade’s life is a movie.
Here’s the first shocker: Yemi never wanted to participate in the talent hunt show because of a previous experience she had in a competition. Recounting the experience, she said, “I had done one small competition in UNILAG where in the beginning they told me that I lacked confidence and I needed to work on that so that I could make it to the finals. Finals came and they told me, well, it would have been you, but you’re overconfident. In 24 hours I moved from no confidence to overconfidence. I swore for everybody there in my mind.
“When they told me that I didn’t have confidence. I went to stand in front of a mirror and danced. I danced Michael Jackson, I danced Shakira, and did a little combat. I got my thing together. I knocked on time and I’m overconfident. So I said, I’m never doing this because I was confused. I didn’t understand my bearing”.
The second shocker: It was a friend who filled out the participation form online without Yemi’s knowledge. The friend pushed her and she decided to give it a try because universities were on strike and she didn’t want to be idle.
She even wanted to leave the audition venue but somehow, she decided to stick around just to see how it would end and the audition turned out to be terrible. Going back memory lane, she said, “I remember when I saw the playback of the audition, my voice was shaking like when you stand in front of a fan singing. It was terrible. It was bad.
But there was this female rapper, Weird MC.
She was so kind to me. She saw something and said that she can hear my nerves, but she believes that there is a voice in me. And I really thank God for positioning her that day because when I watched my auditions, it was terrible. I would not select me if I were a judge, but she heard something and that means she has an ear for greatness”.
Telling you that Yemi made it through the audition would be telling the obvious but hey, she made it. Soon Yemi emerged top 120, then top 60. Now something terrific happened at this point.
Guess what?
Someone stole Yemi Alade’s song! So Yemi was to perform after this guy but he left his own song and performed her song instead. Yemi was dumbfounded. She climbed the stage but couldn’t perform, the crowd was getting furious and irritated at her. Then she just went ahead to repeat the same song. Weird MC had to cut her performance and asked her to choose another song. She did, and as the story goes, she made it to the top 25.
Reiterating the lesson she learned from the ugly experience, Yemi said, “Be careful who you tell your moves and your truth. Some people will either try to block it, counteract it, or just be in your way in general to spoil your moves”.
Long story short, Yemi Alade emerged the winner. However, she had a new challenge to deal with after this big win. A lot of people now knew her and she became the star that everybody wanted to talk to in school, along the street, in the market, in the bus, etc.
It was really distressing for her but again, she gave herself another pep talk and embraced the star she had become.

Life after fame
As stated earlier, Yemi got a record deal and got signed to Effyzzie Music Group. However, it took five years before Yemi started releasing her work.
In 2014, she dropped ‘Johnny’ and her debut studio album ‘King of Queens’ which was followed by the second album ‘Mama Africa’ in 2016. Following the releases of these albums, Alade
embarked on world tours. In 2016, she debuted on Billboard as No 4 on “Next Big Sound ” Chart. She won the MTV African Music Awards for Best female in 2015 and 2016, was nominated for Artiste of the Year in 2015, making her the first female to win the MAMAs for Best female consecutively twice. In 2015, Yemi became the first African female to be nominated for the MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs). Yemi Alade is also applauded for her creative and overwhelming stage performances, fashion and music videos, She has won The Headies Award for Best Performer twice, 2018 and 2019. The slot was initiated at The Headies 2018 and she was the first artist to win the category.
On June 9, 2020, she was listed among the leading artists to perform at The Global Goal: Unite for Our Future, a Global Citizen-sponsored event highlighting the unequal impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic, especially in remote areas of Africa and worldwide. At the event on June 27, 2020, Yemi Alade shared the stage with global stars like Miley Cyrus, Shakira, J Balvin, and others.
In 2022, Yemi Alade earned a Grammy nomination for her song “Dignity” with Angelique Kidjo. The duo was nominated for the Best Song for Social Change Social Merit Award. Alade holds a Grammy certificate for her collaboration with Beninese music icon Angelique Kidjo on the Mother Nature album. She made history as the first Afrobeats artist to receive a Latin Grammy nomination for the song “Cónexion Total” with Bomba Estéreo, and both the song and the album (Deja) it featured in were nominated. In 2022, Scoove Africa ranked Yemi Alade as “The Best Stage Performer in Nigeria,” and Emma Dabiri, in a Norient article, hailed her as a revolutionary artist overcoming the constraints imposed by colonialism and its legacy. Yemi Alade, is also the second Nigerian and first female Afrobeats artist to surpass 100 million views for a single YouTube video, following Davido.
3 questions and answers on Yemi Alade’s life
Does Yemi have an alter ego?
Yemi Alade really seems simple and natural and so it’s easy to think she doesn’t have a second personality that she zooms in and out of to be her best.
Yemi Alade the superstar is the alter ego in this context and Eberechi is the original person. During an interview with Taymesan on the ‘Tea with Tay Podcast’ she said, “…when I’m not on stage, I’m my person. I’m Yemi Alade on the show from morning to night. You’re talking to Yami Aladi because my head is already in the game.
Does Yemi Alade feel nervous when performing?
It’s very easy to imagine that at this point when Yemi has toured several parts of the world and had huge collaborations and songs she’d be very confident climbing on any stage because she has seen and has conquered a lot.
But in reality, it’s not so. She spoke about this during an interview saying, “I get nervous because I’m excited for what I’m about to experience. I get nervous because I don’t know the outcome. I’m also hopeful because I believe it will be fantastic. So all these nerves and everything is just hitting me at the same time. When I was still very up and coming, people used to tell me that when I finally blow, I would see how everything would change.
They told me that I’d be relaxed and that I shouldn’t stress myself.
“But all these na lie, na lie. You think it’s easy? Look at the birds; they take flight. But I’m very sure there’s a lot of work that goes into staying in flight. In flight mode is another story. I mean that I’m sure that’s why even when you study the way airplanes are piloted, the actual work of the pilots is to take off and to land. But the main work of being in the air, they left it to the engine and to the mechanics of everything, because some things are not easily done with the human factor. Yeah, you need to make sure you cancel all errors.”
With all those stories and analogies, Yemi was simply trying to communicate that being an established figure in the music scene doesn’t take away the nervousness of being on stage.
How does Yemi feel being a Yoruba and Igbo?
Actually, she didn’t realize the multicultural background while young till people started expressing shock over it. Prior to realization, she felt totally comfortable just loving her mom and dad as she didn’t see the cultural difference.
But instead of giving in to the negative reaction of people toward her multi-ethnicity, she saw every reason to love it. She loved the fact that she could explore different food, dressing, and language all within her family house. So being Igbo and Yoruba feels good for Yemi, it’s an opportunity she’s thankful for. To her there’s a story behind every stroke of genius in every tradition, and she thinks that really spurred her on to be the person she is today.
Yemi’s relationships in the music industry
Selebobo
Selebobo is a Nigerian record producer, songwriter, and singer. He produced Yemi Alade’s hit song “Johnny” in 2014, which became a massive international success. This collaboration brought them both significant recognition and solidified their places in the Afrobeat scene.
Beyoncé
Yemi Alade has collaborated with the global superstar Beyoncé on the song “Lion King – Gift” which features various African artists. Being featured alongside Beyoncé on such a high-profile project was a major boost for Yemi Alade’s international career.

Controversies
Comparison to Davido and Wizkid
Back in July 2018, Yemi Alade made a statement that stirred controversy across social media. In the statement which was made during an interview, Yemi compared herself to Davido and Wizkid saying, “The same capacity Wizkid holds down in Africa, I hold it down, the same capacity Davido holds down in Africa, I hold it down, the same venues, we all shut it down. So there is no number one, and that is the truth but not everybody will agree to that, people will say Yemi shut up but that is the truth. Why don’t we go ask the promoters, the people who know the numbers?”
Some people reacted to the statement with harsh criticism while others supported her.
Lebara Mobile
In 2015, a fan of Yemi took photos of and posted a flyer that had Yemi’s face on it. The flyer was an advertisement for UK communication company, Lebara Mobile. The content of the flyer read, “All your favourite West African English Channels. Watch TV and movies anytime, anywhere”.
What Lebara Mobile does is very similar to what DSTV does in Africa.
According to information exclusively shared by F7 News, Yemi Alade intended to sue the company for copyright infringement because her photo was used ‘illegally’.
The news sparked questions as to whether Yemi really needed to sue or not. However, when asked about the lawsuit, her manager, Taiye Aliyu, said he didn’t know anything about Yemi suing the UK company.
Yemi Alade’s discography
Albums
2015 – King of Queens 2016 – Mama Africa 2017 – Black Magic 2019 – Woman of steel 2020 – Empress
Extended plays (EP)
2017 – Mama Afrique 2021 – Queendoncom 2022 – African Baddie 2023 – Mamapiano
Singles
2013
● Johnny
● Ghen Ghen Love
● Faaji
● BamBoo
2014
● Tangerine
● Kissing
2016
● Na Go De
● Koffi Anan
● Want You
● Best Day of my Life
2017
● Heart Rubber
● Hustler
2018
● Bumbum
● Elele
● Oh My Gosh
● Knack Am
● Issokay
● Oga
● Open Close
● Number One
2019
● Yaji
● Bounce
2020
● True Love
● Boyz
2021
● Enjoyment
2022
● My Man
● Begging
● Bubble It
● Baddie
Acting
2019
● Played role of Nneka in the film ‘Home’
2020
● Played role of Yemi Alade in the film ‘Black is King’
● Played role of Mogambo in the film ‘Omo Ghetto: The Saga’
Nominations, awards, and recognitions
Yemi Alade’s nominations
Nominated in 2012 for
● Best ‘Female Artiste of the Year’ by YEM Awards
Nominated in 2013 for
● ‘Most Promising Female’ by ELOYAwards
Nominated in 2014 for
● ‘Female Artist of the Year’ by Nigeria Entertainment Awards
● ‘Female Musician of the Year’ by City People Entertainment Awards
● ‘Best African Act’ by MOBO Awards
Nominated in 2015 by The Headies for
● King of Queens as ‘Best R&B/Pop Album’
● King of Queens as ‘Album of the Year’
● Duro Timi as ‘Best Vocal Performance (Female)’
● Artiste of the Year
Other nominations in 2015
● Best Live Performer by Nigeria Entertainment Awards for
● Best International Act: Africa by BET Awards
● Best African Act by MTV Europe Music Awards
● Best Live Performer by Nigeria Entertainment Awards
● Best International Act by BET Awards
● Best Pop and African Artiste of the Year by Soundcity MVP Awards
Nominations in 2016
● Artiste of the Year by The Headies
● ‘Want You’ nominated for Best African Dance Video, Best Afro Pop Video, Best West African Video, Best African Female Video, African Video of the Year by WatsUp TV Africa Music Video Awards
● Ferrari nominated for Best African Traditional Video by WatsUp TV Africa Music Video Awards
Nominations in 2017
● Digital Artiste of the Year and Best Female by Soundcity MVP Awards
Nominations in 2018
● Best Pop, Best Female, Digital Artiste of the Year, and African Artiste of the Year by Soundcity MVP Awards
Nominations in 2019
● African Artiste of the Year, Digital Artiste of the Year, Best Pop, and Best Female by Soundcity MVP Awards Soundcity MVP Awards
● Best Live Act and Artiste of the Year by AFRIMMA Awards (African Muzik Magazine Awards)
● Best Female Artiste in Western Africa Female Artiste in Western Africa for the work Oh My Gosh
● Entertainer of the Year and Best Female Artist by African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
Nominations in 2020
● Digital Artiste of the Year, African Artiste of the Year, and Best Female by Soundcity MVP Awards
● Best Live Act and Best Female Western Africa by AFRIMMA Awards (African Muzik Magazine Awards)
● Best Collaboration of the Year by African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
● Best Collaboration of the Year for “Shekere” featuring Angelique Kidjo by African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
Nominations in 2021
● Most Popular Musician by NET Honors
● Best Album of the Year (Empress), Best female artist (West Africa), Best female artist, and Artist of the Year by African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
Awards
Awards in 2015
● Hip Hop World Revelation of the Year from The Headies
● Female artiste of the Year from Nigeria Entertainment Awards
● Best Female from MTV Africa Music Awards
Awards in 2016
● Mama Africa won Best Album-World Beat from Independent Music Awards
● Best Female from Soundcity MVP Awards
● Best Female from MTV Africa Music Awards
Awards in 2017
● Best Performer from The Headies
Awards in 2018
● Best Performer from The Headies
● Best Female Western Africa (Oh My Gosh) from AFRIMMA Awards (African Muzik Magazine Awards)
● Best Female Artiste from AFRIMA Awards (All Africa Music Awards)
● Female Artist of the Year from African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
Awards in 2019
● Best Performer from The Headies
Awards in 2020
● Best Female artist (West Africa) from African Entertainment Awards USA (AEA USA)
Yemi Alade net worth and assets
Yemi Alade net worth
Yemi Alade has built a massive net worth that’s estimated to be $5 million. Converted to Naira, that would be ₦7,955,300,000.00 (seven billion nine hundred fifty-five million three hundred thousand naira).
Yemi Alade cars
Yemi Alade owns a Toyota Prado SUV, a Mercedes Benz G Wagon worth $130,900, and a Toyota Tundra Truck worth $33,575
Few lessons you can learn from Yemi Alade’s life
● Embrace opportunities: Yemi Alade’s journey shows the importance of seizing unexpected opportunities, even when initially reluctant.
● Face your reality: Yemi’s realization of her family’s financial struggles and her subsequent pep talk highlights the importance of facing and embracing reality.
● Adaptability is key: Her ability to adapt to new challenges, whether in the talent show or post-fame, underscores the importance of adaptability. Each new phase of your life will pose new challenges. Be adaptable.
● Be careful who you share your dream with: “Be careful who you tell your moves, your truth. Some people will either try to block it, counteract it, or just be in your way in general, spoil your moves” – Yemi Eberechi Alade