Michael Adebayo Olayinka (born 23 September 1999), known professionally as Ruger is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and performing artist. He rose to fame with the release of his song "Bounce", which led him to sign a recording deal with

Jonzing World Jonzing World is a Nigerian record label and management company that was founded by a recording artist D'Prince on 22 March 2019. Jonzing World operates as a subsidiary of Jonzing World Entertainment. Other arms of the company include Jonzing Wor ...

, in 2021. That same year, he released his debut extended play, ''

Pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

''. In 2024, he left Jonzing World to start his own imprint, called 'Blown Boy Entertainment'.

Early life

Michael Adebayo Olayinka was born on 23 September 1999 in

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 ...

, where he was also raised. He is originally from Yagba West Local Government Area in

Kogi State Kogi State is a States of Nigeria, state in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti State, Ekiti and Kwara State, Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, Fe ...

, Nigeria.

Career

Olayinka was discovered by

D'Prince Charles Enebeli (born 23 October 1986), known by his stage name D'Prince, is a Nigerian Grammy Awards, Grammy-67th Annual Grammy Awards, nominated music executive, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, Promoter (entertainment), promoter, and philant ...

, who gave him the name "Ruger". His first song recorded seventy million views in three days. In January 2021, D'Prince announced the signing of Ruger to Jonzing World and

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

UK, in a joint venture with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. He released the song "One Shirt" with Rema in January 2021. In February 2021, he released "Ruger", a single from first EP, ''PANDEMIC''. "Bounce" became a hit song from ''Pandemic'', and debuted at number 39 on the Top 50 chart Nigeria, and was listed at number 20 on the

TurnTable End of the Year The ''TurnTable'' End of the Year charts are a top 50 list of and cumulative measure of singles' performance in the Nigerian music market, based upon the ''TurnTable'' charts, during any given chart year. ''TurnTable''s "chart year" runs from the ...

chart and number 2 on the

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 ...

top Afrobeats songs. On 26 November 2021, he released his second EP, titled '' The Second Wave'', with "Dior" as the lead single, which debuted number 32 on the Top 50 chart, and number 15 on the

UK Afrobeats Singles Chart The UK Afrobeats Singles Chart is a record chart compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 20 most popular singles in the afrobeats and afroswing genres. The chart is compiled by the OCC from digital ...

. On 19 November 2021, he released his second EP, ''The Second Wave'', produced by Kukbeatz. The song "Dior" reached number 32 on the Top 50 chart, and number 15 on the

. 2021 AFRIMMA (African Muzik Magazine Awards) nominated RUGER for Best NewComer 2021 2021 AFRIMA (All Africa Music Awards) nominated Ruger for Best Artiste, Duo or Group in African Reggae, Ragga or Dancehall and Most Promising African Artiste of the year. In November 2022, Ruger released the hit single " Asiwaju", which peaked at number 1 on Nigeria's Apple Music chart and spent a record-breaking one month at the top. As of May 2024, the track has accumulated over 100 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. In February 2023, Ruger was named Best New Artiste at the Soundcity MVP Awards which were held at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos. In September 2023, Ruger released his debut album, '' Ru the World.'' In April 2024, Ruger and

Bnxn Daniel Etiese Benson (born 14 May 1997), known professionally as Bnxn (pronounced as Benson) and formerly known as Buju, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. Early life Daniel Etiese Benson was born in Lagos. He hails from Ak ...

released the collaborative mixtape ''

RnB RNB may refer to: * Nankai Broadcasting (''R''adio ''N''ankai ''B''roadcasting), a broadcasting station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan * Russian National Library * RNB Global University, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India * "RNB" (song), a song by Young Dol ...

''. The mixtape's lead single, ''Romeo Must Die'', debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Afrobeat chart.

Discography

Albums

EPs

Collaborative EP

*''

'' (with

) (18 April 2024, Blown Boy Entertainment, TYE Entertainment, and

Empire Distribution Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (stylized as EMPIRE) is an independent American record label, distribution and publishing company founded in 2010 by Ghazi Shami. Based in San Francisco, EMPIRE has offices in New York, London, ...

)

References

{{Reflist Living people 1999 births 21st-century Nigerian male singers Singers from Lagos Eyepatch wearers