Omawumi Megbele (born
13 april 1982), known by her stage name Omawumi, is
a nigerian singer-songwriter and actress of Itsekiri ethnicity. She
attended Nana primary school, and later attended the College of Education
Demonstration Secondary School. She graduated from Ambrose Alli University
with a Law degree. After graduating in 2005, she moved to Port
Harcourt, Rivers State, where she worked with her family's law firm called
"O.S Megbele & Associates". She also studied French at Alliance
Francaise.
Omawumi rose to prominence
as a contestant on idols West Africa, with her strong voice and out-going
personality, she was voted the 1st runner-up of the competition when it ended
in may 2007. since then, she has had numerous performances on the stage with
musicians such as p-square, 2face Idibia, D'banj, Bankyw, M.I,
Sasha, 9ice, Chaka Demus And Pliers, Carl Thomas, Angie Stone and Donell
Jones, among others.
Omawumi played a minor
role in the 2009 edition of the v-monolugues, a play that reflects the
negative issues affecting women in Nigeria. She also starred in the musical
play Olurombi. She had a minor role in the movie Inale, a
hollywood/nollywood Bongos-Ikwe production. In 2011, she starred in Funke
Akindele's return of Jenifa and she starred in Yvonne Nelson's house
of gold (2013) alongside Majid Michel and Ice Prince
Omawunmi has been
involved in a few non-governmental organisations like project ‘alert pink pearl’
foundation and projects like ‘notes2notes’, and ‘maga no need pay’ which tried
to intimate Nigerian youths on the need to stop involvement in cybercrimes and
fraud. She won the Headies award for the next rated artist in 2009. She was
awarded best RnB/pop artiste in 2010 at the Nigeria entertainment awards which
held in New York. She also won the award for best female music video at the
same awards. She has won outstanding recording artiste at The Icon Awards and
best new artiste at the Women in Entertainment and Arts Programme by vivacity
pr, London.
She is a brand
ambassador for GLOBACOM, KONGA, and MALTA GUINNESS. She’s also part of the
campaign called "RISE WITH THE ENERGY OF AFRICA". She is one of the
most recognised and enterprising females in the entertainment industry.