Netizens have been reacting to the list of the prestigious award containing African singers who have won Grammy Awards since 1960s, and Wizkid and Tems were noticeably missing from the list.
The organisers of the award show recently released list of African musicians who have won the coveted award ahead of the forthcoming 66th Grammy Awards scheduled to hold on February 4.
The list sparked controversies on social media as popular Nigerian singers Wizkid and Tems were omitted among the 10 African winners of the prominent award.
Recall that Wizkid in 2021, won his first-ever Grammy award for his role in Beyonce’s 2019 ‘Brown Skin Girl’, in the ‘Best Music Video’ category while in 2022.
Also, in 2023 Tems won her first-ever Grammy award in the ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ category for her role in ‘Wait for U’, the hit song by Future featuring Drake.
However, Sade, the pop singer, is the first Nigerian to win the global award while Burna Boy is the second and last Nigerian to go home with a golden gramophone.
Miriam Makeba, the late South African singer, remained the first from Africa to win a Grammy award.
Below is the 10 African who has won Grammy Awards:
- Miriam Makeba (South Africa) — Best Folk Recording (with Harry Belafonte) – 1966
- Sade Adu (Nigeria/UK) — Best New Artist – 1986
- Ali Farka Touré (Mali) — Best World Music Album – 1994
- Cesária Évora (Cape Verde) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2004
- Youssou N’Dour (Senegal) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2005
- Angélique Kidjo (Benin/France) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2008
- RedOne (Morocco) — Best Dance/Electronic Album – 2010
- Tinariwen (Mali/Algeria/Libya) — Best World Music Album – 2012
- Burna Boy (Nigeria) — Best Global Music Album – 2021
- Black Coffee (South Africa) – Best Dance/ Electronic Album — 2022.
“Femi Kuti, King Sunny Adé, Babatunde Olatunji, and his rival WizKid had all received GRAMMY nods before Burna Boy became the first Nigerian male artist to grab a golden gramophone for original work. The Afrobeats megastar earned the prize for Best World Music Album in 2021 for his album Twice as Tall.” The award organisers wrote on it website.
