Teniola Apata (born 23 December 1993), professionally known as Teni or Teni The Entertainer is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and entertainer.

Early life

Teni was born on 23 December 1993 in

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

. She is the younger sister of Nigerian singer

Niniola Niniola Apata (born 15 December 1986), known professionally as Niniola, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. She participated in the sixth season of ''Project Fame West Africa'' in 2013 After releasing her debut single "Ibadi", she was nominated ...

. She attended Apata Memorial High School and later the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

, but finished at

American InterContinental University American InterContinental University (AIU) is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. It employs open admissions. American InterContinental University is a member of the American InterContinental Universit ...

where she obtained degree in

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

Career

2016–2019: ''Fargin, Askamaya and Other Recordings''

Teni released her debut single "Amen" while signed to

Shizzi Oluwaseyi Akerele, popularly known as Shizzi, is a Nigerian platinum record producer, disc jockey and songwriter. Music career 2009–2015: Early life and career Shizzi started out as a drummer in church. He achieved recognition for his work on ...

's Magic Fingers Records. She left the record label and signed with Dr. Dolor Entertainment in 2017. Teni started gaining prominence after releasing the single " Fargin" in September 2017. She made her breakthrough after releasing the hit singles "Askamaya", "

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type Containers * Case (goods), a package of relate ...

" which was later

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by Nigerian musician

Snazzy the Optimist Michael Chimeruche Alozie (born 28 March), known professionally as Snazzy the Optimist or simply Snazzy, is a Nigerian-born singer, songwriter and rapper. An alumnus of International College of Creative Arts, he began as a rapper, covering song ...

as "Upgrade", and " Uyo Meyo". "Askamaya" was ranked 15th on MTV Base's year-end list of the Top 20 Hottest Naija Tracks of 2018. On 20 February 2019, Teni was featured on

YouTube Music YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by the American video platform YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The service is designed with an interface that allows users to simultaneously explore music audios and music videos from YouTu ...

's Trending Artist on the Rise. On 3 May 2019, she released the video for "Sugar Mummy". On 14 June 2019, she released a new single titled "Power Rangers".

2019–2020: ''Billionaire E.P and Quarantine Playlist''

Teni released her debut E.P, Billionaire on 11 October 2019. The "Billionaire EP" was compiled with six (6) tracks and no guest appearance. The E.P was produced by Jaysynths Beatz and

Pheelz Phillip Kayode Moses (born 5 June 1994), better known as Pheelz, is a Nigerian record producer, singer, songwriter, and graphic designer. Pheelz is credited to have produced all but one song on Olamide's '' Baddest Guy Ever Liveth'' album. In 2 ...

. In April 2020, Teni partnered with Nigerian Disk Jockey, DJ Neptune to release an EP called the Quarantine Playlist, which sees her playing out different stages of being in quarantine and talking about the strains of being on lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The four-track EP is mostly mid-tempo and includes production from Tempoe, P. Prime and Dëra.

2021–present: ''Wondaland''

On 2 February 2021, Teni revealed the name and expected date for her forthcoming debut album. She shared this on her Instagram account "The time is near... And the album shall be called “WONDALAND” 🦋#MARCH2021 #WONDALAND" Her debut album 'WONDALAND' was crafted for over two years in cities like London, New York City,

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, Ondo,

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

and

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

. The album's production was handled by

, Damayo, Tempoe, P.Prime, Millamix, Krizbeatz, and Ozedikus and was made available for purchase and online streaming on several music platforms, including

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

, Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, and Google Play.

2024–present: ''Global Citizen''

In 2024, Teni signed to Artist House, an independent record label & management company based in New York City. On January 17, 2025, Teni released her new single "

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...

", which is her biggest single debut to date. The single reached Top 10 Spotify, Apple, YouTube, TikTok Nigeria, Top 50 Global Shazam, #1 Shazam Nigeria, Top 10 Shazam Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, & Cameroon. Her new project ''Global Citizen'' is due out in 2025.

Endorsements

In March 2019, Teni signed an endorsement deal with Tom Tom, a candy brand produced by

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

Nigeria. On 6 October 2020, PM News reported that Teni had signed an endorsement deal with Telecommunications Giant,

Globacom Overview , GLO has over 60.7 million subscribers, making it the second largest network operator in Nigeria. In 2011, GLO became the first telecommunications company to build an $800 million high-capacity fibre-optic cable known as Glo-1, a ...

Nigeria.

Awards and nominations

Teni won

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

of the Year at the 2018 Headies Awards, and Most Promising Act to Watch at the 2018

Nigeria Entertainment Awards The Nigerian Entertainment Awards were established in New York City in January 2006. The awards recognize the contributions of African entertainers with a special focus on Nigerians. Ceremonies * 2006 Nigeria Entertainment Awards * 2007 Nigeria ...

. She also won Best New Artist at the 2018 Soundcity MVP Awards Festival.

NotJustOk NotjustOk is an African media and entertainment company, known for housing an online music and entertainment website ''NotJustOk'', a music streaming service Mino Music (previously known as MyNotjustOk), and a music distribution and publishing se ...

ranked her eighth on its list of the 10 Hottest Artists in Nigeria. She was listed on ''

Premium Times ''Premium Times'' is a Nigerian online newspaper based in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The newspaper was launched in 2011. The online medium is notable for investigative journalism and reports, among other fields. Recognition * Nominated ...

'' list of the Six Nigerian break-out stars, viral sensations of 2018. In October 2022, Teni was conferred a Nigerian National Award – Member of the Order of the Niger (MON) – by Nigeria's former president

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian army major general, he was the military head of state of Nigeria from 31 December 1983 to 27 Augu ...

. There was a controversy on social media about her approach to receiving the award.

Discography

Studio albums and EPs

*''Billionaire'' (2019) *''The Quarantine Playlist'' (2020) *''WONDALAND'' (2021) *Moslado Refix (featuring Emmyblaq) *Christmas Is Here (2023)

Selected singles

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teni Living people Nigerian women musicians 21st-century Nigerian musicians 21st-century Nigerian women musicians Yoruba women in business Yoruba businesspeople Yoruba women musicians 1992 births