Yinka Ayefele was born in Ekiti State southwestern Nigeria and hails from Ipoti, a city in Ekiti State southwestern Nigeria. He had attended Our Saviour’s Anglican Primary School in Ipoti-Ekiti for his primary and secondary education before he later proceeded to Ondo State College of Arts and Science in Ikare Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria.
Growing up Ayefele never had plans of becoming a musician, his childhood ambition was to become a banker and work as a clerk but God had greater plans for him. He might not have planned to be a musician but Ayefele’s love for music has always been there. He joined his church choir at a young age and according to him he joined the church to cement his relationship with God. His parents didn’t support his music career because back then music wasn’t really paying off like it does now,
Ayefele had a stint at Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Ibadan where he worked briefly as a journalist and a broadcaster, he also produced jingles and musical works on radio.
Ayefele was involved in a ghastly accident in 1997 which lead to him having a broken spinal cord and ever since he has been on a wheel chair. Since then he has been responsible for most of the top chart yoruba gospel songs.
Ayefele is happily married and blessed with 3 children. He runs his own record label, a radio station and a chain of supermarkets. Ayefele is highly involved in charity and donates a lot to orphanages. On the 20th anniversary of his accident Ayefele gave away almost 70 million naira in cash gifts to various widows and organizations.
Musical Career
After working as a journalist and broadcaster at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, IBADAN and producing jingles and musical works on radio. His professional music career came into play in 1997 after involving in a sad motor accident that denied him of ever walking again. He was in the hospital for over 9 months, his friend Kola Olootu visited and advised him to put some songs together because he was already aware of his musical talent. After composing songs for about a year, he finally released his debut album titled ‘Bitter Experience’ in 1990 which brought him to the lime light. He used the album launch event to raise funds for his treatment. The money realized from the album launch was used to seek further treatments outside Nigeria.
Yinka Ayefele’s situation after the 1997 accident changed his life both positively and negatively. He might have lost his spinal chord to the tragedy but after the accident the Yinka Ayefele brand kicked off, his name became a house hold name afterwards. The general acceptance of his first album lead to the release of a second album titled ‘Sweet Experience’ which was about how things took a positive twist and what was meant to be a disadvantage in his life gave him more advantage and he was able to outshine people without disabilities.
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