Nonzo Amadi

From https://www.nonsoamadi.com/about/:

"Nonso Amadi is a Canadian-based Afro-R&B, soul singer, songwriter, and producer from Nigeria. Beginning his musical career while studying in Nigeria at Covenant University and then Swansea University in the UK. Nonso transformed into a sonic-globetrotter after his move to Canada – leading him to fuse the soul & rhythm of African music with modern soft textures of R&B. With an affinity for contemporary R&B, Nonso developed a desire to explore North America and Africa in equal parts – citing Toronto-native Drake’s genre-hopping capability as an inspiration for his own creative fluidity. Amadi’s music is powered by borderless infusions and intention. “I really loved Mary J Blige, Brandy, Wyclef Jean, Paul Play. I love R&B because it’s slow enough to allow you to feel,” he says of his early experiences with the artform.

Nonso’s refreshingly honest yet tranquil approach to music has allowed the likes of Juls, Santi, and Odunsi The Engine — the latter of whom he collaborated with on the War EP’ — to entrench his arrival across Nigeria and the continent at large across the late ‘10’s. With over 100,000+ million streams across platforms, Nonso Amadi refuses to be the typical straight A-student stereotype. Instead, he stands tall as a constantly evolving, textured lyricist able to translate Alte, Afro-fusion and hip-hop into his R&B-canvassed approach to storytelling, best represented on his last EP Free (2019), which features Afrobeats heavyweights Simi and Mr Eazi.

Spontaneously, after the Free EP in 2019 and a rising trajectory, Nonso made the conscious decision to step away from social media and paused the release of music — all to take a deeper dive into his artistry and separate from noise and distraction. Unaware of the global pandemic looming, Amadi’s time to cleanse and create was stretched into a longer hiatus. Currently recording his debut album, with the support of Universal Music Canada and an international team — the now 26-year-old, Nonso Amadi is determined to shed even more of his creative-skin. “I want listeners to hear this next project and know who I am and what I’ve gone through. I want to make great songs that tell my story”."