Why my dad bought me out of my first record deal – Davido

Singer David Adedeji Adeleke Jnr., better known as Davido, has revealed why his father, Adedeji Adeleke, interfered in his first professional recording deal. According to the Grammy award nominee, his dad bought him out of the deal with Black Diamond in 2011 after he played him a snippet of his hit song, Dami Duro, video.

The Assurance hitmaker explained that his father, who had previously opposed his musical career, bought him out of the deal to ensure he owned 100 per cent of the music masters. He revealed this after his old record label boss, Tosin Ashafa, talked about giving him his first professional deal and how his wealthy dad responded.

Ashafa had made the disclosure while participating in a trend on X, where people were encouraged to tweet their ‘most random music fact’.

“I signed @davido to his first official contract under Black Diamond Promotions with Cecil Hammond/another silent partner. We hired @GodwinTom to manage him. Dr Adeleke realised David was really serious with pushing his music without him, reached out to us and bought us out,” he wrote.

Reposting the tweet, Davido wrote, “No, I signed the contract in 2011 …was a good contract not bad! But daddy wanted me to have 100 per cent of whatever I was doing! Especially after I played him the first cut of Dami Duro video in his office! He knew it was game time!!!”

The Davido Music World (DMW) chief went on to give credit to his former label boss for believing in him at a time where all odds were stacked against him. “So much respect to you guys for allowing me walk!! Just know you were part of something that turned out to be phenomenal!!” he wrote in a follow up tweet.”