Adekunle Gold: Biography, career, awards, net worth

Publish date: 2024-07-24

Adekunle Kosoko, known professionally as Adekunle Gold, is a Nigerian highlife singer, songwriter, and graphic designer.

He is best known for his 2014 hit single Sade, a highlife cover of One Direction’s Story of My Life, before signing to YBNL and releasing his debut album Gold the following year. Adekunle Gold also revealed to Nigerian Entertainment Today that he designed YBNL’s official logo and completed other designs for Lil Kesh, Viktoh, and Olamide before signing with the label. 

Table of Content hide 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Songs 3.1 Singles 3.2 Albums 3.3 Awards 4 Net Worth 5 Family

Biography

Adekunle Gold, also known as AG Baby, was born Adekunle Almoruf Kosoko on January 28, 1987, in Lagos, Nigeria. Although born to Muslim parents, he and his siblings were allowed complete religious freedom, and Adekunle, the only male child, started his singing career as a local church’s junior choir member. He wrote his first song at 15 and joined Bridge, a boy band that dropped a few singles before splitting up. According to him, his stage name came in a moment of inspiration following a pastor’s sermon.

He attended the Lagos State Polytechnic and graduated with a Higher National Diploma in Arts and Design, after which he continued his music career solo. During this period, he was also dubbed the King of Photoshop by social media users after he posted an edited image of himself embracing artiste Tiwa Savage.

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Career

After releasing Sade in 2014, which received extensive airplay across Nigerian and West African radio stations, Adekunle’s longstanding relationship with Olamide, the CEO of the record label YBNL nation, saw him signed to the label. He released two more singles in quick succession: Orente and Pick Up, both of which, along with Sade, were mixed by Nigerian artiste Simi and also charted. His efforts earned him a nomination at the City People’s Entertainment Awards for Most Promising Artiste of the Year, and Sade won him Alternative Song of the Year at the Headies 2016. He also emerged the Revelation of the Year at the AFRIMA Awards that year.

Following this, Adekunle issued his debut album, Gold, a 16-track project with musical production from Pheelz, Masterkraft, Oscar, B Banks, Sleekamo, and Seyikeyz in 2016. Gold received airplay by state-run radio stations across Africa and then went intercontinental to European stations in England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain. The album reached college and public radio stations in the U.S. and peaked at number seven on the World Music Album charts.

Due to his contract with YBNL Nation expiring, Adekunle Gold departed from the record label and unveiled his band, The 79th Element, which is a reference to the atomic number of the element Gold. Unity Bank unveiled him as their brand ambassador on January 15, 2018, and he featured with Reminisce and SESS on the hit single Original Gangster that year before releasing Ire. The latter was later remixed and re-released a year later twice by both DJs Pheelz and El Mukuka.

Adekunle released his sophomore album About 30 on May 15, 2018, to international fanfare and featuring guest vocals from Dya on Down With You, Flavour N’bania on Yoyo, and Seun Kuti on Mr. Foolish. The album also peaked on the World Music Album Charts at number 9, after which Adekunle Gold embarked on a nationwide and continental tour before dropping a couple of singles through 2019, such as Adiza, Before You Wake Up, Kelegbe Megbe, and Promise.

In early 2020, he released Jore, which featured Kizz Daniel, before releasing his third studio album Afro Pop Vol. 1, on August 21, 2020. His fourth album, Catch Me if You Can, was released on February 4, 2022, a 14-track project that featured guest appearances from the likes of Davido, Fatoumata Diawara, Foushee, Lucky Daye, Stefflon Don, and TY Dolla $ign.

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Songs

Adekunle Gold has released a plethora of hit songs, some of which are:

Singles

Albums

Adekunle Gold has made himself a household name in Nigeria and refers to his music as urban highlife due to its fusion of contemporary pop, electronica, folk, and R&B.

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Awards

Net Worth

Adekunle Gold is one of the most talented musicians in Nigeria at the moment, and his flair for incorporating alternative elements into his songwriting has made him a huge success. And while sources vary due to there being no official declaration of his wealth, his net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $3 million dollars (₦415 million-₦1.2 billion), a figure that is expected to rise shortly as his career grows.

Family

Adekunle was born into the Lagos State royal family, in which he holds the title of prince. He is also the nephew of renowned Nollywood actor Jide Kosoko. He married his long-time collaborator Simi in January 2019 in a close-knit ceremony, and it was later revealed that they had been dating for five years. They welcomed their daughter, Adejare Kosoko, in May 2020.

Adekunle Gold has also been accused of cheating with a popular video vixen known as Teminikan; this was first mentioned by a popular blogger known as GistLover on March 21, 2021, when the blogger posted the vixen’s photo on the blog’s Instagram page and warned her to stay away from the artiste. Further screenshots posted on the said blogger’s social media page that same day confirmed the blogger’s accusations and even alleged that his wife Simi was aware of her husband’s unfaithfulness.

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