Aphroden Spotlight: Don Jazzy

Do you think you know this man so well? Let's see. His full name is Michael Collins Ajereh, born on the 26th of November 1982. He is a Nigerian award winning record producer, singer/songwriter, musician and former CEO of Mo.Hits record (2004) and current CEO of Mavins record. Don Jazzy, as he is popularly called, was born in Umuahia and hails from Delta State. His family moved to Ajegunle, where he was raised and he schooled at Federal Government College, Lagos. Michael started playing the drums at 4 and the bass guitar at 12. He studied Business Management at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State before relocating outside the country where he worked at McDonalds as a security guard. In 2004, he partnered with D’Banj to set up Mo’ Hits label. Within two years, he had successfully produced two albums (No Long Thing and Rundown/Funk You Up) with his former Mo’ Hits partner and was working on a third, Curriculum Vitae. By this time, he had already started becoming a household name with the trademark intro "It’s Don Jazzy again!" In 2008, there were further production credits for the best selling album of that year, The Entertainer, Don Jazzy repeated the trick with Wande Coal’s 'Mushin 2 MoHits', an album that was described as one of the best albums in Nigeria. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Source: jaguda.com[/caption] Don Jazzy was recently rated as the 36th “Most powerful celebrity in Africa” according to Forbes list. His musical dexterity can be heard in his beats and well calculated vocals he assists to the likes of D'Banj, Sauce Kid, Dr SID, Ikechukwu, Kween, D'Prince, Jay-Z and Kanye West on their 'Watch The Throne' track Lift Off, featuring Beyoncé. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Source: gabzinc.com[/caption] The soft-spoken producer is also an avid social networker. With over 670,000 followers on Twitter, he is known to give birthday shout-outs, airtime recharge cards, iPads, and even money to his fans online. In 2011, his talents got him noticed by Kanye West who signed him up as a producer on his GOOD Music label. Don Jazzy has won the Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) Producer of the Year in 2006,  the Nigerian Entertainment Awards Music Producer of the Year in 2007, The HEADIES (2011) as the producer of the year amongst other accolades. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Source: ajetun.blogspot.com[/caption] Currently, this Delta indigene is a brand ambassador for Loya Milk and MTN Nigeria and he has featured in a lot of songs like 'Eminado' by Tiwa Savage, 'Surulere' by Dr Sid, 'PullOver (Remix)' by Kcee and Wizkid amongst others.   By Franklin Ugo

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