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Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu was born inLondon, England, on 7 November 1988, to parents from Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria.[4]
Okogwu lived on the Aylesbury Estate in Southeast London until he was 12 with his parents and three younger siblings: Kelly, Kelvin and Marian.[4] The family later moved to Plumstead, Woolwich, with Patrick attending St. Paul's Catholic School (now St. Paul's Academy) in nearby Abbey Wood. After earning 10 GCSEs,[5] he went on to study A Levels at St. Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, earning A-levels in media studies, psychology, and religious studies.[6][7]
At 12 years old, Okogwu conceived his stage name under which to make music after viewing the music video for So Solid Crew's "21 Seconds". Okogwu used a thesaurus in class, juxtaposing "tempah" (temper), which he saw under "angry", with "tinie" (tiny), to ameliorate the aggressive sound of "tempah".[8]
Regarding his London upbringing, Tempah states, "London is one of the only places in the world where you can live in a council block and see a beautiful semi-detached house across the street. Growing up around that was inspirational, it kept me motivated".[1]
Okogwu has said that he has considered furthering his education, stating "I definitely want to be in a financial position where I can head off to Cambridge or Oxford or somewhere. I would study something like music management or something extremely random like physics, which no-one would expect, as I like challenges
Tinie Tempah's music career began in 2005 when he joined the Aftershock Hooligans (Aftershock Records,) recording hundreds of songs with the fellow Hooligans. His first mixtape, "Chapter 1: Verse 22", was released via Aftershock Records in 2005, as a free mixtape. In 2006, Tempah gained a great deal of airplay on British music TV channelChannel AKA for his song "Tears", and later on gained more recognition for "Wifey". Later in the year, he collaborated on a track ("Perfect GCD Hood Economics Room 147") with grime artist Ultra andproducers/songwriters Agent X. Tempah stayed on the label until 2007. When asked why he left, he stated that he felt Aftershock didn't respect him as an artist and that it was time to move on.
Tempah, together with his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota founded theindependent label Disturbing London primarily as an outlet for Tempah's music, but with the idea of also signing other young artists. According to Dumi: "We wanted to have a platform to put out our music and there wasn't any Def Jam orRoc-A-Fella label equivalent in England. [Also] I wanted to create a major independent label with quality artists. I felt like the major labels had lost the passion for music."[10] The activities of the label were initially largely funded by student loans and the proceeds from buying and selling cars.[10] Disturbing London also produce a clothing range that Tinie wears and promotes.
When scout and music consultant Jade Richardson saw Tempah performing at the 2009 Wireless Festival she calledParlophone Records president Miles Leonard saying: "You've got to check out this guy Tinie Tempah. He came on at lunchtime and there’s about 1,000 kids screaming for him. He's only put out one independent release and he's got this huge audience."[11] Leonard and A&R Nathan Thompson visited Tempah and his manager Dumi at their studio a few weeks later and were hugely impressed to hear about the work they had already done in developing Tempah's career and by the ambitious plans they had for his future.[11]Leonard told HitQuarters: "I thought it was incredible that an artist and manager were doing so much so soon with so little... That impressed as much as the music."[11]Tempah announced his signing to Parlophone in October 2009 by running a competition on his blog, with the winner invited to high tea at Claridges to celebrate the deal.[12]
A major break came when Sony launched its PlayStation Portable and used a track featuring Yasmin and DJ Ironik, and "Atlantic/Warner" for the futuristic Wipeout Pure. This resulted in a promotional European tour alongside the likes of Swayand Dizzee Rascal.
2010–2011: Success and Disc-Overy
Tinie Tempah performing at WRONGBAR in Toronto, Canada in May 2011. Touring and promotion forDisc-Overy in North America pushed back the release of Tempah's second album to 2013.[13]
Tempah released his debut single "Pass Out" through Parlophone on 28 February 2010. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1, having sold just over 92,000 copies in its first week, and sold sufficiently well to stay at the top spot for a second week. Tempah toured with Chipmunk in February 2010, going on to supportRihanna for four dates in May on her 10-date UK tour with Tinchy Stryder and Pixie Lott.[14] Tempah performed at Radio 1 Big Weekend in Bangor on 22 May 2010 on the In New Music We Trust stage. He also toured with Mr Hudson in May 2010, as well as performing at many summer balls at various universities around the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
Tempah's second single "Frisky" was released on 6 June 2010, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 2. "Frisky" would later be used for a 2013 Bacardicommercial advertising their new pineapple flavor. Tinie Tempah played a host of festival dates throughout the summer, including the Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium on 6 June 2010, at Wakestock in Abersoch on 3 July 2010, both T4 on the Beach and the Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on 4 July, and V Festival on 21 and 22 August 2010. He also had the honour of performing his first single "Pass Out" on 25 June 2010 atGlastonbury on the Pyramid stage withSnoop Dogg.
Tempah released his third single "Written in the Stars" on 19 September 2010. This again charted at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, selling over 115,000 copies in its first week (his biggest-selling single to date), and charting in a number of other countries. "Written in the Stars" would go on to be used for a WrestleMania XXVIIcountdown promo during the WWE PPV Royal Rumble on 30 January 2011, and was later confirmed by WWE that it would be the official theme for Wrestlemania XXVII. It is also the theme song for the 2011 MLB Post Season, and was used as the entrance song for the New York Giants before Super Bowl XLVI.
Tempah teamed up with Swedish House Mafia for his fourth single "Miami 2 Ibiza", which was released on 1 October 2010. This reached a peak of number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and gave him his first number 1 in the Netherlands Mega Single Top 100 chart. Tempah's long-awaited debut album Disc-Overy was then released on 4 October 2010, featuring all his previous charted singles. On 11 October 2010, he kicked off his first UK tour which was supported by Chiddy Bang. In the same month, he was awarded his first 2MOBO Awards. Tempah also featured on the Tinchy Stryder single "Game Over", which was released on 15 November 2010 and reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart.
On 25 December, Tempah released his fifth single "Invincible" featuring Kelly Rowland, which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. "Wonderman", featuring Ellie Goulding, was released and was the sixth official single. Tempah joinedUsher on the European leg of his OMG Tour in January 2011.
Tempah was nominated for 4 Brit Awardsmaking him the most nominated artist at the awards, and on 15 February 2011 he won his first ever Brit Award, for Best British Breakthrough Act, as well as a Brit for Best British Single.[3]
On 7 March 2011, Tempah expressed his desire for his next album to go triple platinum. "I reckon in 2011, towards the end of it, I'm going to do an arena tour – and sell it out – then I reckon I'm going to release another album, and fingers crossed it can go platinum again, and double platinum, and triple. Let's just sell a million."[15] In early 2011, Tinie Tempah announced a UK Arena tour, featuring support acts Nero, Labrinth and Chase and Status (After Party DJ Set).[citation needed]
In 2011, Labrinth revealed that Tempah would be releasing "Pass Out" in the United States, featuring a well recognised artist in the American rap game.[16] He also served as a front act with Big Sean among others on Lupe Fiasco's Generation Lasers Tour. On 28 November 2011, Tinie Tempah hosted an episode of the TV show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.[17] In the same month, Tinie Tempah would release two tracks, "Like It or Love It" which featured bothWretch 32 & J. Cole, and "Lucky Cunt"
2012–present: Demonstration
By December 2010, Tempah was writing a second album,[18] saying there would be a more electronic and live feel to it. It was originally intended for a late 2011 release.[13][19] During an interview, Tempah said of his second album: "I always like to work with different people on each project I do, just so you get a different sound and angle. I will be working with some of the same people I did for the first album, you know what they say ‘if it ain't broke then don’t try and fix it’."[20] Tempah had hoped to collaborate with other artists such as Toronto's Drake, and Adele. At the Brit Awards in 2012, he announced that his second album would be calledDemonstration.[21] On 24 June 2012, Tempah performed at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend on the main stage, playing two of his newest songs: "Mosh Pit", and "Drinking from the Bottle", on which he features alongside Calvin Harris as lead artist and which also appears on Harris' new album18 Months. On 12 August, Tempah performed at the closing ceremony of the2012 Summer Olympics in London,[22]performing "Written in the Stars" alongsideJessie J and Taio Cruz.[22]
The lead single from Demonstration, "Trampoline", was premiered onMistaJam's BBC Radio 1Xtra show on 2 July 2013, and the lyric video was premiered shortly afterwards.[23] It features2 Chainz and was produced by Diplo, and was released on 4 August 2013 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 3 in the UK Singles Chart. In the interview with MistaJam, Tempah cites Dizzee Rascaland So Solid Crew as influences for the album, who've influenced him since his childhood. In interviews, Tinie and other artists have announced that they were working together on his album such asLabrinth, Dizzee Rascal, Ellie Goulding, Big Sean and Emeli Sandé.
The next single from the album, "Children of the Sun", featuring John Martin, was produced by iSHi and was premiered onZane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on 12 September. It was released on 28 October in the United Kingdom and charted at number 6 in the UK. On 16 September, to promote his forthcoming UK arena tour, the album track "Don't Sell Out" live at the O2 Arena was uploaded to O2's YouTube channel.[24] Tempah performed at Keele University on 8 October in a surprise event. On 19 October 2013, Tinie Tempah was awarded "Best UK Hip Hop/Grime Act" at the MOBO Awards' 18th Anniversary.[25]
The album, Demonstration, was released on 4 November 2013,[26] entering the UK Albums Chart at number three.Demonstration also debuted at number twenty-two on the Australian album charts and number forty on the New Zealand album charts. Tinie announced a third single, featuring Labrinth, entitled "Lover Not A Fighter", to be released in February 2014. In April, Tinie released the music video to Demonstration's fourth single, "5 Minutes". The song was produced by BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, and was engineered by Rob Swire.[27]
Tinie features on a vocal remix of the 2013DVBBS and Borgeous instrumental EDMhit "Tsunami", retitled "Tsunami (Jump)", which was released through Ministry of Sound in 2014 and topped the UK Singles Chart.[28] Tinie also features on Cheryl Cole's comeback track "Crazy Stupid Love", which went straight to Number 1, selling 118,000 copies in its first week, giving him his fifth Number 1 single. Tinie followed Cole to the judges' houses on The X Factor airing in October the same year.
During his stint in Dunedin for the University of Otago Orientation Week, Tempah performed both on the stage and in the bedroom at a Castle Street flat.[29]
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