I Inspired Nigerians With How I Reacted To Ifeanyi’s Painful Death – Davido

Popular Afrobeats star, Davido, has opened up about how the death of his son, Ifeanyi Adeleke, made him a better man. He recently revealed that Ifeanyi’s demise completely reshaped his outlook on life and his music career.

Recall that the singer and his wife, Chioma, lost their three-year-old son in October 2022 after he drowned in a swimming pool at their Banana Island residence in Lagos.

Reacting during an interview with ABC News’ Rocsi Diaz, Davido described the incident as life-changing, stating that it gave him a deeper perspective on resilience and purpose.

According to him, the strength he and Chioma showed during the difficult period inspired a lot of Nigerians because several people kept showing up to thank him for encouraging them to remain strong in their own moments of hardship.

Davido concluded by saying that he recently told Chioma that he is proud of how they bounced back, especially with the birth of their twins.

“Of course, It changed my life. I know how many who randomly come to me at the airport to tell me how my strength has inspired them in hard times.

I was telling my wife the other day that I’m proud of how we bounced back. Now, we got twins. They are big and shouting everywhere. For us to be able to go through the loss of our son and be able to bounce back in a major way is huge,” he said.

WOW.

David Adedeji Adeleke (born November 21, 1992), who is better known as Davido, is an American-born Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. Davido was born in Atlanta, US, and raised in Lagos; he made his music debut as a member of the music group KB International. He studied business administration at Oakwood University before dropping out to make beats and record vocal references. Davido rose to fame after releasing “Dami Duro”, the second single from his debut studio album Omo Baba Olowo (2012), from which six additional singles—”Back When”, “Ekuro”, “Overseas”, “All of You”, “Gbon Gbon”, and “Feel Alright”—were taken. In 2012, Davido won the Next Rated award at The Headies. Between 2013 and 2015, he released the hit singles “Gobe”, “One of a Kind”, “Skelewu”, “Aye”, “Tchelete (Goodlife)”, “Naughty”, “Owo Ni Koko”, “The Sound” and “The Money”.

In May 2014, Davido criticized the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) after missing his flight to London, and accused them of pestering him for money. On May 11, 2014, the PR officer for the NIS denied Davido’s allegations and said they did not issue him an exit permit because he did not have the correct travel documents with him.

On April 6, 2012, Nigerian Entertainment Today reported Davido had signed a ₦30 million endorsement deal with MTN. The deal unveiled him as the face of MTN Pulse, a marketing campaign aimed at Nigerian youth. On October 24, 2013, Pulse Nigeria reported Guinness Nigeria had signed Davido for an endorsement deal. As part of the deal, Davido performed at the Guinness World of More Concert alongside artists including P-Square, D’banj, Wizkid, Ice Prince, Burna Boy, Olamide, Phyno, Chidinma, Waje and Tiwa Savage. On May 9, 2018, Guardian Life reported Davido had signed an endorsement deal with Infinix Mobile, a Hong Kong-based smartphone manufacturer.