Congratulations To Tems For Winning A Grammy

By Charles Novia

It is a well deserved award.

However, I don’t think she is the first Nigerian female singer to win a Grammy. In these days when the Gen Zs and the most of the millennials tend to rewrite narratives to suit their era, an important part of history will be lost if some clarifications are not made on this narrative.

Sade Adu, a Nigerian-born singer who was born in Ibadan, Oyo State in 1959 and sometimes claims her father’s state, Ekiti, as her state of origin, was the first Nigerian female artiste to win a Grammy in 1986 for her album ‘Sade’ and has won three other Grammys over the years since then, bringing her total haul to four awards. Sade, largely regarded as a British citizen because of her dual citizenship, has never renounced her Nigerian background.

Technically, Sade Adu is the first Nigerian female to win a Grammy. This assertion is arguable but we don’t have to turn history on its head. I remember when Sade won that Grammy award and how proud we all were here in Nigeria. Those feats spurred a burst of the Nigerian creative spirit in my generation back then.

Again, congratulations to Tems, the second Nigerian female to win a Grammy Award, thirty-six years after Sade won her first Grammy.