Oluwatobi Ayokunle Ibitoye (born 9 August 1993), better known as Tobi Ibitoye, is a

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

n-born

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n singer and songwriter from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. He was a finalist on 5th edition of The Voice of Romania and is now signed to an independent record label in

, Uninvited Artists. He is also the first and only Black man to have been listed on

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

top 30 under 30 list in the year 2016. He moved to

at the age of fifteen in 2009 and delved into music right after his appearance on the TV show. His influences include genres such as pop,

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

Childhood and education

Tobi Ibitoye was born on 9 August 1993 in Zone 2 of the

Wuse Wuse is a metropolitan district located in the city of Abuja. Its geographical coordinates is 9° 4' 14" N 7° 28' 3" E. It hosts major federal government offices and private businesses. It is intertwined with Maitama to the northeast, the Central ...

District in

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 ...

. He had his primary and secondary education in

's capital and at the age of 15, he moved to

with his parents, due to his father's engagement to the Nigerian embassy in Romania. Tobi continued his studies at the International School of Bucharest and went on finish his high school education at the Cambridge School of Bucharest. He went on to study

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

at the Faculty of

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

. He first encountered music at church during regular Sunday service. At the age of ten, he started experimenting with his mother's violin and has since maintained an affinity for this instrument.

Music career

The Voice of Romania

In August 2015, Tobi appeared on the Voice of Romania performing

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

's "

It's a Man's Man's Man's World "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" is a song written by James Brown and Betty Jean Newsome. Brown recorded it on February 16, 1966, in a New York City studio and released it as a single later that year. It reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B c ...

". He continued in the competition with Andrei Tiberiu Maria as his mentor and made it to the finals of the competition, where he finished as the second runner up. The impact of his performances on the show was applauded by the Romanian media, especially Forbes Romania, who listed him as one of the most influential people living in Romania under the age of 30 in their annual Top 30 under 30 list for the year 2016, making him the first and only black man to have been on such a list.

Releases

The Finals of the Voice of Romania served as a premier for Tobi Ibitoye, who launched his music career and his first single: "Miss You" produced by ''Hahaha Production'', and signed by the Media Pro Music a subsidiary of

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, on the night of the finals. A few months after the contest, he had to return for a short period of time to his native country, after which he returned to Bucharest and started working on new records with the producers from ''HaHaHa Production.'' In the summer of 2018, he signed a record deal with one of the newest Independent Record Labels in Romania, Uninvited Artist, through which his second single Loving me was released. His second single was remixed by Alin Dumitriu and this remix premiered on Dance FM Bucharest's weekly top 20, on which it was listed for six weeks. It was also listed on Dance FM Bucharest's top 50 records for the year 2018. Loving me also joined the list of Romanian produced records made available on the streaming platform of America's leading Radio Station,

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

Tobi's story also attracted the attention of foreign media such as BBC, whose report focused on the challenges of his early days in Bucharest. "Faith", in collaboration with Gabriel M, set new records for the artist, after entering Dance FM Bucharest's weekly Top 20 where it remained for nine weeks; it is also being broadcast on

UTV Romania UTV is a Romanian free-to-air music television channel located in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its pop ...

Discography

Singles

* ''Miss You'' (2015) * ''Loving me'' and ''Remix'' (2018) * ''Come home'' (2018) * ''Real'' – Deja Who (2018) * ''Love and A Song'' (2020)

Collaborations

* ''Beating heart'' – Andre Rizo (2018) * ''Real'' – Deja Who (2018) * ''Faith'' – Gabriel M (2019) *J'ai besoin de toi – Mark Azekko ft. Eneli *Mystery – Aspra *Sun – Sasha Lopez & Diotic *Nowhere – Eneli *Dirty Diamonds – Vanotek *OK - Deejay Fly *LUV - RIME *Way Up - Amari

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibitoye, Tobi 1993 births Living people Nigerian pop singers Romanian pop singers Naturalised citizens of Romania Romanian people of Nigerian descent Romanian electronic musicians University of Bucharest alumni English-language singers from Romania Nigerian violinists Romanian violinists