Temilade Openiyi professionally known as Tems, is a Nigerian songwriter, singer and record producer. She was born on 11th of July, 1995, in Lagos State. She is regarded as one of Nigeria’s top five female superstars who has really imparted into Nigerian music industry. She rose to fame after being featured on Wizkid’s 2020 single “Essence”, which peaked at the number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Early Life
Temilade Openiyi is a Nigerian, born on 11 June 1995, in Lagos State. She was raised by a single mother as her parents got divorced when she was five years old. Tems has a Nigerian mum and a British father, she resided in llupeju before relocating to Lekki and later Ajah.
Tems interest in music started at her early age after joining her church’s choir. She had her primary education in Lagos State and she attended Dowen College for her secondary education in Lekki, still in Lagos State. For her University education, she studied at a University in South Africa.
Career
Tems music career started at a very early age after joining her church’s choir. At the age of fifteen, she had already made up her mind of pursuing music professionally. Making this possible, she stopped listening to other artists in order to discover her own style of music. Tems began creating music in different and unique way which led to the birth of a style that is a fusion “Alte, Afrobeats and R&B”.
Tems journey into music industry began fully when she was twenty years old. In 2013, she released as first EP which she titled “Time Swap EP”. In 2018, after her album Illumination, she released her first hit single “Mr. Rebel”, the song got more than 200,000 views on YouTube. She followed it up with another single “Looku Looku”, the song was highly streamed and most of Nigerian radio stations gave it enough air-plays. In 2019, she released another single which was a hit, “Try Me”, the song was loved by all and got more than 2 million views on YouTube alone. This solidified her name in the hall of fame.
Tems unique voice and style in music industry got the attention of an American singer Khalid, she was invited for a collaboration and did honored it. This led to the creation of the remix of the single “Know Your Worth” which Davido, another Nigerian singer was also being featured.
On the 25th of September 2020, Tems released her debut EP which she titled “For Broken Ears”, the EP went across Nigeria, North America and Europe. Still in 2020, she collaborated with Wizkid on Essence’s song, it was the most successful single of his Made In Lagos Album. This made her go globally with large fans base.
She earned a number one spot on BBC 1Xtra Airplay Chart, a Billboard Hot 100, a Soul Train Music Award, two NAACP Image Awards and a Grammy Award nomination for Best Global Music Performance, all this is as the result of her perfect role in creating the hit single.
Tems earned her second Billboard Hot 100 after collaborating with a Canadian-American singer and rapper Drake, on Fountain, one of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album tracks. Almost a year after releasing her debut project, she dropped her sophomore EP titled “Orange Was A Place”.
Tems became a record producer while she was in her 20s creating legacy to reckon on.
In 2021, she signed a record deal with RCA Records. She is the first African artist to debut at number one and the second Nigerian artist to top the chart.
Some of the songs that Tems has released and featured in includes;
- 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
- Drop
- Skills
- Too Bad
- Know Your Worth (DJ Khalid ft Davido, Disclosure).
Awards
Tems has won the Most Alternative Song category for Damages at Net Honours Awards in 2021.
During the 2021 African American Entertainment Awards, she won the Best Female Artist category and also won the Best Collaboration, Best Video, and also Song Of The Year for her work with Essence.
Net Worth
Tems is one of the most successful artists in the music industry currently. She earns a lot of money from her music career based on brand partnerships, gig performance as well as from discographies royalties.
Tems has an estimated net worth of $1 million – $3 million.
