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Who is Tems? Biography, Real Name, Age, career, list of songs, awards & facts

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Tems is a Nigerian alt-R&B singer, songwriter and record producer. In this article, we will be talking about Tems — Her biography, real name, age, career, awards, net worth, list of songs and other interesting facts.

Tems is one of the fastest-rising Nigerian female singers. However, a lot of people still do not know much about her.

If that is your case, then we’re about to fill you up on all you should know about this super talented singer.

What is the Real Name of Tems

Many people know the fast-rising star by her stage name, Tems. But her real name is Temilade Openiyi.

Biography, Early life & education

Temilade was born in Lagos State, in the South-western part of Nigeria. Her father is British, her mother, a Nigerian.

Her parents got separated when she was just five years old. She has a brother and they were both raised by their mum.

They lived in Ilupeju when they first moved back to Nigeria, then to Lekki Phase 1, and then Ajah

She attended Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos State. Thereafter, she acquired a degree in economics in a university in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Birthday & age: How old is Tems?

Tems was born on the 11th of June, 1995. So she is currently 28 years old.

You should do well to celebrate with her on her birthday.

Who is Tems? Biography, Real Name, Age, career, list of songs, awards & facts

Is Tems married? Any kids?

Not yet. The 28 years old singer is not yet married and does not have any children yet.

Who is Tems’ boyfriend?

Tems’ is not in any relationship at the moment; at least, none that we know of.

Career

According to Tems, she has always been into music since she was seven and that was after she saw Beyoncé on TV on the Pepsi Countdown.

Young Tems
Young Tems

She has always loved music and tried to sing but she thought her voice was too heavy for a girl.

According to her, she thought she sounded like a man so she used to sing with falsetto until her music teacher noticed her.

The teacher helped train her voice and encouraged her to keep going and she learnt the piano.

She would also practice singing with her brother’s guitar.

She joined the Choir in secondary school and recorded tunes each day with her senior brother.

Her first single “Mr. Agitator” received massive airplay in Nigeria. Fast forward to 2018, she composed and recorded Mr Rebel.

In August 2019, Tems released the single, ‘Try Me’. It turned out to be a hit and currently has over 4 million views on YouTube.

Her single Damages from her For Broken Ears EP became another follow-up hit to Try Me peaking at number 6 on the newly launched “TurnTable Top 50” (a Nigerian chart)

Recently, Tems was featured on Wizkid‘s song Essence off his Made in Lagos album.

Tems list of songs

Among them is the banger

  • Mr. Rebel
  • Looku Looku
  • Try Me
  • Come Inn
  • These Days
  • If U then I
  • Oldschool
  • Plunge Down the Cascades
  • Cruising
  • Epiphany
  • Diss for Lil’ProkS
  • Ultra Happiness
  • Ghost Detain
  • Love Me Down
  • Falling
  • Twisted Tilde
  • Tales By Moonlight
  • Time Swap
  • Good Time
  • These Days
  • Drop
  • Skills
  • Too Bad
  • Know your Worth – DJ Khalid ft Davido, Disclosure.


In 2020, Tems released her first Ep titled ‘For broken ears. The Ep contains the following songs:

Damages
Free mind
Ice T
The Key
Interference
High key

Tem’s awards and nomination

Tems has not won any awards yet. However, she has been nominated for quite a number of them. Some of the nominations she has gotten include:

  • In 2019, she was nominated for Best Vocal Performance (Female) at the Headies award.
  • Best Alternative Song for her single “Mr Rebel”, during the Headies award.
  • She was nominated for next rated at the headies awards, 2020.

Controversy

In December 2020, Tems, alongside fellow Nigerian singer, Omah Lay was arrested in Uganda.

Are you wondering why they were arrested? Well, here is why; They went to Uganda to perform to a large crowd during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Uganda police, she flouted the lockdown orders. No Ugandan artist was allowed to host a show in Uganda.

So she was arrested and detained for about three days. Nigerians were very livid and kept on dragging the Uganda police on Twitter, demanding for the release of Omay Lay and Tems.

And three days later, the police released them.

Tems who seemed to be very upset even after their release still went on to blame Ugandan artist, Bebe Cool as the brain behind their arrest.

Other interesting facts about Tems

Tems is so talented. Even Multi-award winning American superstar, Chris Brown has testified to the fast rising talent.

Chris Brown on the 19th of December 2020, wrote: ‘Tems is so so so fire OMFG!’

Chris Brown and Tems

But funny enough, Tems herself revealed that she thought she wasn’t good enough. If not for the little push from her teacher.

She was recruited in 2020 by American singer, Khalid to join him and fellow Nigerian singer, Davido on an Afrobeats remix of ‘Know Your Worth’.

Tems’ 2020 single, ‘Damages’ became a hit, garnering over 2.3 million views on Youtube.

Lil Wayne and Aaliyah are her idols.

The first song she learned how to properly sing is Alicia Keys, “If I ain’t Got You,” at 12.

Personal life

Speaking in an interview with Fader.com, she revealed that she did not want to go to school initially so that she could focus on her music career.

She said, “I tried to not go to school so I could pursue my career. That didn’t bang. But I did everything I could.

“When my mum applied to different universities and they would email me, I wouldn’t tell her till the deadline passes and I’ll be like, “Oh well the deadline passed, I might as well just stay home.

“I tried that but she didn’t accept. She applied to a school in South Africa which had already started the session that year, but they allowed me to enrol. So I went like a week later,” she said.

At some point, she learnt music production. When asked why she decided to learn music production, she said,

“One holiday I came back and I wanted to work with a producer and all the producers I tried to talk to had a lot of conditions.

“It’s either you have to give something, and I didn’t have money, and anything else is disgusting to me. I was just like Na wa, would I be struggling because I want to make one beat. 

“Since I knew what I was looking for, I decided to learn how to myself. I started watching videos on YouTube and got onto it pretty quickly,” she said.

Tems also likes fashion, and crocheting. She used to make crochet crop tops but that has been on hold because of her music. Tems loves eating and according to her, she is in a love-hate relationship with food

Social Media handles

Official Instagram username: @temsbaby
Twitter: @temsbaby
Facebook: Tems

Here’s a summary of Tems’ profile:

  • Full name: Temilade Openiyi 
  • Date of birth: 11th of June, 1995 year old.
  • Age: 28 years old.
  • Marital status: Single
  • Nationality: British-Nigerian

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