Chukwuka Ekweani (born 16 July 1995), professionally known as CKay (SEE-kay), is a Nigerian singer-songwriter and record producer signed to Warner Music South Africa, and Atlantic Records. He is signed to Chocolate City an independent label services of Warner Music Group ADA. Chocolate City launched his international smash single, “Love Nwantiti” (otherwise known as “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)”) in 2019. The song debuted at number one on March 29, 2022, after the introduction of the Billboard Afrobeats chart. On 9 May 2022 it became the first song by an African artist to hit one billion streams on Spotify.

Ckay’s manager during the early peak of his global career was Asa Asika, who signed him to The Plug Entertainment.

Early life

Chukwuka Ekweani was born in Kaduna, a state in the north-western region of Nigeria. He is of Igbo descent from Anambra State. His love for music was driven by his father, who was a choir conductor at their local church. While growing up, he was moved by musical instruments, which prompted him to learn the piano from his father. Thereafter, a friend introduced him to the production software Fruity Loops. Chukwuka started off his music career as a member of a band, made up of him and two other band mates, before beginning his solo career as CKay.

 

Career

He moved to Lagos in 2014 after he was discovered. He started working with Chocolate City in early 2015, while signed to Loopy Music. On 6 May 2016, he released a promotional track named “Bad Musician Bad Producer”. The instrumental was made available for free downloads on all Nigerian blogs for commercial use for covers, club and radio. He officially joined the Chocolate City artist roster on 31 August 2016 after the merging of Loopy Music in 2016. On 23rd of October 2016, TNMA recognized Kelly Joe’s cover of “Bad Musician Bad Producer” earning CKay a special mention. Chocolate City released Who the F*ck Is CKay? – ep on 11 September 2017.

2018–2021: “Love Nwantiti”, Warner Music Africa & “Emiliana”
On 2 March 2018 he released “Container”, an Afrobeat album influenced by the South African gwara gwara dancing form. It was a record that cut through in Nigeria and got him heavy airplay. It was released by Chocolate City and produced by Tempoe. He released the music video on 6 July 2018, directed and photographed by the Myth. He released his second extended play, CKay the First, on Chocolate City on 30 August 2019. The project gave us the famous song “Love Nwantiti” which went on to become a huge record in Nigeria. On February 14, 2020, CKay released a remix of the song featuring Joeboy and Kuami Eugene named “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)”. It went viral on TikTok in 2021 and became an international smash, charting across Europe, Africa, Australia and New Zealand, also reaching number 23 in the UK and earned him his first entry on the US Billboard Hot 100. A North-African remix with ElGrande Toto gained famous in the Maghreb countries and in Germany. A French remix starring Franglish, a German remix featuring Frizzo, Joeboy and Kuami Eugene, a Spanish version featuring De La Ghetto, an East African remix featuring Rayvanny and a South African remix featuring Tshego and Gemini Major were released.

On 13 November 2020, he featured on the song “La La” from Davido’s studio album A Better Time, published under Davido Music Worldwide, RCA Records and Sony Music. He released his third ep Boyfriend through Warner Music South Africa on 11 February 2021. CKay tweeted on 4 May 2021: “I’M NOT signed to Chocolate City. “I’m signed with Warner Music South Africa.” He was awarded a Silver Creator Award from YouTube on 28 July 2021 at 100k subscribers. He appeared on the song “Beggie Beggie” from Ayra Starr’s first studio album 19 & Dangerous, released on August 6, 2021 on Mavin Records. On October 8, 2021, CKay became the first African artist to reach 20 Million Spotify Listeners with over 21 million monthly listeners on his Spotify page. He dissed his Atlantic record deal on Power 99.1 FM on Nov. 3, 2021. CKay released “Emiliana” on 3 December 2021. “By Your Side” starring Blxckie. A music video for the song was released on April 1, 2022, directed by Mosh. Emiliana charted across Europe and Africa and peaked at #9 in France, giving him his first Top 5 ranking on the Nigeria TurnTable Top 50 list. On 26 May 2022, “Emiliana” was certified platinum in France.

Net Worth

Ckay is one of the biggest singers in Africa and has made a fortune in a short time from his live performance and the royalties of his record. His estimated net worth is between $2 million and $5 million.