Biography
Biography Of Ayra Starr, Her Family & Networth
If you’re a music lover, you probably might have heard of the song ‘Bloody Samaritan’. The song was sang by a fast rising artiste called Ayra Starr. We shall discuss everything you need to know about this young talent.
Biography of Ayra Starr
Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe popularly known as Ayra star was born on the 14th of June, 2002 into a family of six. She has two brothers, Dami and Ade and a sister, Jesutunmise. The parents of Ayra Starr who are Kwara indigenes reside in Lagos and that was where the singer finished her basic education.
The nature of her dad’s career required his constant relocation and so, the family relocated to Cotonuo, Benin Republic. At 14, Ayra Starr gained admission into Les Cours Sonou University where she read International Relations and Political Science.
Ayra Starr’s Fashion Career
At the age of 16, Ayra got signed into the Quove Model Management. She also modelled for Mazelle Studio, Complete Fashion Magazine and Esperanza Woman. In October, 2021, she appeared in the cover of Accelerate TV’s “The Cover” and an editorial titled ‘Ayra Starr A Starr is Born”. She has also appeared in Notion Editorial and has starred in an editorial for fall/winter 2021.
How Ayra Starr’s Musical Career Began
Growing up into a family where her mum was a singer, her brother a guitarist and her aunty a rapper, Ayra Starr developed a penchant for music and at the age of ten, she had already become a member of her high school choir, not just that, she started writing songs with her brother at the age of 10.
The singer stated that back in school, whenever she was being bullied by her classmates because of her appearance or her age, her panacea for the pains she felt was listening to Nicki Minaj’s songs and this made her feel like a second Nicki Minaj.
She began her career by covering songs of other artistes on her Instagram account and then in December 2019, Ayra Starr uploaded her first debut titled ‘Damaged’ on her Instagram account.
No sooner had she uploaded it than Mavin Records Boss, Don Jazzy contacted her and in 2020, he officially signed her into the Mavin Records group.
Her genre is that of Afrobeat, Afro Pop and R&B. In January 22, 2021, the model released her first extended play(EP) which she titled Ayra Starr. The Ep consists of five songs (Away, Ija, Ditr, Sare and Memories) and it was mixed and mastered by Ikon, Louddaaa and Johnny Drille. According to her, she and her brother, Dami wrote four songs in the Ep while she wrote one alone.
The EP became the number one album on Nigeria iTunes and Apple Music in Nigeria and four other countries. It also reached 15 million streams across Sportify, YouTube and Audio Mack. Her song ‘Away’ was also the number four song on Nigeria TurnTable Top 50 and no.17 on US Billboard Top Triller Global. ‘Okay Africa’ also added this particular song in their list of nine best Nigerian songs of January 2021. The singer decided to make a remix of two songs from her EP, ‘Ija’ and ‘Away’ and in the remix, she featured both Tokimonster and Lilo. She appeared in the music video of ‘Dear Future Wife’, a song by Eri Ife.
Ayra Starr has performed in notable events like the UC Berkeley Nigerian Students Association Virtual Culture show 2021 titled ‘Olori Awards’, Season finale of the Nigerian Idol which held on July 11,2021. She also performed in a Sunday live eviction show of Big Brother Naija 2021.
On the 6th of August 2021, the young singer released her debut album titled ’19 & Dangerous’.
Songs in the album are: Toxic(Her fist single which was originally called Damaged), In-between, Lonely, Cast(Gen z anthem), Amin, Bloody Samaritan, Karma, Snitch, Bridgertn, Biggie Biggie and Fashion killer. The album reached top 40 hits on the TurnTable Top 50. On August 28th, one of the tracks in her album ‘Bloody Samaritan’ ranked No.2 on the Billboard’s Next Big Sound, and on September 27th, it reached the no.1 spot on TurnTable Top 50 and also appeared on Pandora Predictions Chart.
The songwriter featured in one of the songs on Johnny Drille’s recently released album titled ‘Before We Fall Asleep’.
Awards/Nominations of Ayra Starr
The singer who is good at using English language, Pidgin and Yoruba was nominated for the 2021 Best Newcomer Awards at the 8th African Muzik Magazine Awards.
She was nominated for the 2021 Most Played R&B Song at the Net Honours though the nomination is still pending.
The 19 year old was also nominated as Best New African Music Act at the 2021 Mobo Awards which is still pending.
Another award where she is being nominated for is the Best New Artist at the African Entertainment Awards. The award is still pending.
Ayra Starr is currently a brand ambassador of Pepsi, Nigeria.
In an interview, Ayra Starr revealed that are musical influencers include: Wande Coal, Angélique Kidjo, 2face, Tope Alabi, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Sia and Tiwa. She also admired Asa’s lyrics and named Shakira, Rihanna, Beyonce and Miley Cyrus as her vocal influencers.
Speaking about the meaning of her name, she revealed it is an Arabic name,
“[It’s] an Arabic name that means “somebody that is highly respected.” It means woke and eye-opening and that’s what I stand for. My music is very eye-opening”, she said.
In a recent interview, the Bloody Samaritan crooner revealed that she likes writing songs around Don Jazzy because with him around, she feels she cannot mess up.
She said,
“I don’t write music with Don Jazzy, exactly. But, I like to write music around Don Jazzy because, when I write music around him, there’s a certain type of like, “I cannot fuck up, I cannot mess up. So when he’s around me, I’m like, “Jazzy is around me.”
“If I’m around Jazzy, I’m writing like 5 songs, 4 songs. He has that ginger that you’re like, “Okay, Jazzy is here. You know he took his time to come and stay with me at this session, I cannot mess up”
She continued,
“So, with Jazzy, I like to write music around him because I just think very fast. Because I’m kinda like under pressure a little. But I work really well under pressure. So, I’m like working very fast”
“And also with Jazzy, he has this thing, that he just gives creative freedom. Do your thing. No matter how weird it is. It might sound weird to you but he’ll be like, “Do it, just do it. Like he allows me to just do my own thing every single time”.
Presently, Ayra Starr’s networth is $300,000 and she has over 1.1million Instagram followers.
