Tems Wins First Grammy With “Wait For You”

Nigerian singer, Temilade Openiyi popularly known as Tems, has just won her first Grammy Award for her performance in American rapper Future’s “Wait For You”, where she was featured alongside Canadian singer Drake.

The song won the “Best Melodic Rap Performance” category in the 65th edition of arguably music’s biggest award show.

This makes it her first Grammy award win.

Tems was born on 11 June 1995 in Lagos, to a Nigerian mother and a British-Nigerian father, she moved from Nigeria shortly after birth to the UK before returning at 5, after her parents divorced. Tems resided in Ilupeju before moving to Lekki then Ajah. Tems attended Dowen College for secondary education and Monash South Africa for her tertiary education. At school, she was noticed by her music teacher and learned to play the piano. She practised singing with her brother and often used his guitar accompaniment.

The 28 years old singer rose to prominence after she was featured on Wizkid’s 2020 single “Essence,” which reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 after the release of a remixed version with an additional feature from Justin Bieber, and earned her a Grammy Award nomination. That same year, she was featured on Drake’s song, “Fountains.”