Tiwa Savage signs deal with Universal Music Group

Nigerian singer and songwriter Tiwa Savage has signed an international recording deal with Universal Music Group.

UMG is an American global  music corporation and is the world leader in music-based entertainment.

The group announced through their official Instagram account that they were “thrilled to welcome Tiwa Savage, one of Africa’s biggest stars to the Universal Music Group Family”.

They said that under the agreement, signed on Thursday, Savage’s future music will be released internationally through UMG’s operations in more than 60 countries worldwide and projects would be executively produced by Efe Ogbeni and Vannessa Amadi-Ogbonna of Stealth Management.

Efe Ogbeni and Vannessa Amadi-Ogbonna said: “We’re very proud to be a part of this ground-breaking partnership between Tiwa Savage and Universal Music Group.

“Tiwa is undoubtedly the most hardworking and talented female artist crossing over from Africa to the rest of the world, and UMG has demonstrated its commitment to the Continent by placing its formidable machinery behind her amazing career.

“Partnerships like these symbolise the hopes and dreams of so many talented artists back home in Africa and it is an honour to be the executive producers of her project.”

Following the deal, Savage said: “My biggest goal is to make Africa proud. I’m so excited for this moment and I’m thankful to Sir Lucian Grainge and my new UMG family for their belief in my dreams.

“I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my career and I’m more ready than I have ever been.”

On how she felt about the deal, she said, “It’s like a dream and more importantly it means that I’m part of the legacy, I’m part of a huge engine and it’s definitely an honour.”

The deal marked the end of her seven years contract with Mavin Records owned by renowned producer, Don Jazzy.

In 2018, she made history by being the first female to be awarded the Best African Act at the MTV European Music Awards.

That same year, she became the first African female act to sell out London’s Indig02.

In December 2018, she was picked by Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin to perform alongside Beyonce, Ed Sheeran and Jay Z live at the Global Citizen Festival in Johannesburg to a 70,000 in celebration of the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth.

The “Kelekele’’ crooner has described the deal as a “new era” for her and her music career.