Personality of the Week - 21st to 27th March, 2011

Tinie Tempah

Our personality of the week, is Tinieeeeeeeeeeeeee Tempahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! A young British of Nigerian origin who continues to make our community proud. According to one of his lyrics, "Everyone is actually like a kid that no one cares about... but we all have to keep screaming until they hear us out! Oh oh ohhh..."

Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a two-time BRIT award winning English rapper from Plumstead, South London. His debut album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number one on 10 October 2010 and was preceded by the number-one singles "Pass Out" and "Written in the Stars" and the top-five singles "Frisky" and "Miami 2 Ibiza".

In 2006, Tinie gained a great deal of airplay on British music TV channel, Channel U, for his song 'Wifey Riddim' and then in late 2007, Tinie Tempah collaborated on a track with grime artists Agent X and Ultra. The song was titled "Perfect GCD Hood Economics Room 147". He toured with Chipmunk in February 2009.

Tinie and his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota founded the independent label Disturbing London, primarily as an official outlet for Tinie's music, but with the idea of also signing other young artists. According to Dumi: "We wanted to have a platform to put out our music and there wasn't any Def Jam or Roc-A-Fella label equivalent in England. [Also] I wanted to create a major independent label with quality artists. I felt like the major labels had lost the passion for music." The activities of the label were initially largely funded by student loans and the proceeds from buying and selling cars.

When scout and music consultant Jade Richardson saw Tinie performing at the 2009 Wireless Festival she called Parlophone Records president Miles Leonard saying: "You've got to check out this guy Tinie Tempah. He came on at lunchtime and there's about 1,000 kids screaming for him. He's only put out one independent release and he's got this huge audience." Leonard and A&R Nathan Thompson visited Tinie and his manager Dumi at their studio a few weeks later and were hugely impressed to hear about the work they had already done in developing Tinie's career and by the ambitious plans they had for its future. Leonard told HitQuarters: "I thought it was incredible that an artist and manager were doing so much so soon with so little ... That impressed as much as the music."

Tinie announced his signing to Parlophone in October 2009 by running a competition on his blog, with the winner invited to High Tea at Claridges to celebrate the deal.

Tinie released his debut single "Pass Out" with Parlophone on 28 February 2010, with it entering the UK Singles Chart at number 1. Selling just over 92,000 copies, making this his first number 1, which it remained for two consecutive weeks. Tinie would later perform "Pass Out" on 25 June 2010 at Glastonbury on the Pyramid stage with Snoop Dogg. Tinie then announced his second single, "Frisky", which was released on 6 June 2010 entering the UK Singles Chart at number 2. Tinie supported Rihanna for four dates (London on 11 May, Nottingham on 14 May, and Glasgow on 19 and 20 May.) on her 10-date UK tour with Tinchy Stryder and Pixie Lott. Tinie performed at many summer balls at various universities around the United Kingdom. Tinie performed at Radio 1 Big Weekend in Bangor on 22 May 2010 on the In New Music We Trust stage. He also toured with Mr Hudson in May 2010.

Tinie Tempah played the Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium on 6 June 2010, at Wakestock in Abersoch on 3 July 2010, both T4 On The Beach and the Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on 4 July, and both days of the V Festival on 21 and 22 August 2010. Tinie released his third single "Written in the Stars" on 19 September 2010. This again charted at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart selling over 115,000 copies in its first week, making it his biggest-selling single to date. The song also went on to chart in a number of other countries. Tinie went on to team up with Swedish House Mafia for his fourth single "Miami 2 Ibiza" which was released on 1 October 2010. This went on to reach a peak of number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and his first number 1 in the Netherlands Mega Single Top 100 chart. He released his long-awaited debut album, Disc-Overy on 4 October 2010 which featured all his previous charted singles. On 11 October 2010 he kicked off his first UK tour which was supported by Chiddy Bang. He went on to win his first 2 MOBO Awards in October. Tinie went on to feature on the Tinchy Stryder single "Game Over" which was released on 15 November 2010. This reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart. On 25 December, Tinie released his fifth single "Invincible" featuring Kelly Rowland, which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. In December, Tinie confirmed he is writing a second album, saying there will be a more electronic and live feel to it. It is not yet known what the title will be.

It has been confirmed that "Wonderman", featuring Ellie Goulding, will be his next single. Tinie joined Usheron the European leg of his OMG Tour in January 2011. Tinie has also been nominated for 4 Brit Awards making him the most nominated artist for the award. Tinie's single "Written in the Stars" was used for a WrestleMania XXVII countdown promo during the WWE PPV Royal Rumble on 30 January 2011. It was later confirmed by WWE that it will be the official theme for Wrestlemania XXVII. On 15 February 2011 he won his first ever Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act. He also won a Brit for Best British Single. On March 7th 2011, Tempah expressed his desire for his next album to go triple platinum. "I reckon in 2011, towards the end of it, I'm going to do an arena tour - and sell it out - then I reckon I'm going to release another album, and fingers crossed it can go platinum again, and double platinum, and treble. Let's just sell a million."

Awards and nominations

Year	Ceremony	Category	Nominated work	Result
2010	MOBO Awards	Best Newcomer	Won
		Best Video	"Frisky"	Won
		Best UK Act	Nominated
		Best Song	"Pass Out"	Nominated
	4Music Video Honours	Hottest Boy	Nominated
		Hottest Hook-up	"Frisky" (featuring Labrinth)	Nominated
	MP3 Music Awards	The UGG Award (Urban/Garage/Grime)	Won
	Urban Music Awards	Best Newcomer	Won
		Best Video	"Wonderman"	Nominated
		Best Hip-Hop Act	Won
		Best Collaboration	"Pass Out"	Won
	BT Digital Music Awards	Breakthrough Artist of the Year	Nominated
		Best Male Artist	Nominated
		Best Newcomer	Won
		Best Video	"Pass Out"	Nominated
		Best Song	"Pass Out"	Nominated
	UK Festival Awards	Breakthrough Artist	Won
	MTV Europe Music Awards	Best UK and Ireland New Act	Nominated
2011	South Bank Awards	Pop Music	"Disc-Overy"	Nominated
	Brit Awards	Best British Male	Nominated
		Best Breakthrough Act	Won
		Best Single	"Pass Out"	Won
		Album of the Year	"Disc-Overy"	Nominated

Sources include: Wikipedia
Pictures: wacachronicle.co.uk and tinietempah.com