Temilade Openiyi, known to the world simply as Tems, is one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from Nigeria in the last decade. With a deep, velvety tone and songs that blend Afrobeats with R&B and alté, she has risen from Lagos to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, collecting two Grammy Awards and becoming the first Nigerian artist to win multiple Grammys. Her story is one of quiet persistence: a former digital marketer who taught herself music production and turned her voice into a global asset.
Biography & Early Life
Tems was born on 11 June 1995 in Lagos, Nigeria. Her first name, Temilade, means “the crown is mine” in Yoruba, and she is of Yoruba ethnicity. Her family relocated to the United Kingdom when she was an infant, then returned to Nigeria after her parents’ divorce, when she was five. She grew up in the Lagos neighbourhoods of Ilupeju, Lekki and Ajah.
For her secondary education she attended Dowen College in Lagos, where she joined the school choir at the age of eleven and learned the piano after her music teacher recognised her unusual voice. She later studied economics at Monash South Africa, graduating before taking a job in digital marketing. In school she was bullied because of her voice — an experience that, by her own account, pushed her toward singing on her own terms rather than away from it.
Music Career
Tems quit her marketing job in 2018 to pursue music full time. She learned self-production from online tutorials and released her debut single, “Mr Rebel,” which she produced herself, on 18 July 2018. Her single “Try Me,” released in August 2019, became her first major breakthrough and made her a favourite among young Nigerian music fans.
On 25 September 2020 she released her debut extended play, For Broken Ears, largely self-produced, with the single “Damages” topping the Nigerian Apple Music chart. A month later she featured on Wizkid’s “Essence,” which rose to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 after a remix with Justin Bieber and earned her first Grammy nomination. She signed with RCA Records in 2021 and released her second EP, If Orange Was a Place.
Her global breakthrough accelerated in 2022. Her song “Higher” was sampled by Future on his single “Wait for U” featuring Drake, which debuted atop the Hot 100 — making her the first African artist to debut at number one on the chart. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Melodic Rap Performance in 2023, making her the first Nigerian woman to win a Grammy. The same year she co-wrote Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, earning nominations for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song, and appeared on Beyoncé’s Renaissance.
In June 2024 she released her debut studio album, Born in the Wild, which peaked at number 24 in the UK and became the highest-charting album by a Nigerian female artist in the US. At the 2025 Grammy Awards she won Best African Music Performance for “Love Me JeJe,” becoming the first Nigerian artist with multiple Grammy wins. She has also received four BET Awards, four NAACP Image Awards, three Soul Train Music Awards and a Billboard Women in Music Award, and has sold over 25 million certified units worldwide.
Net Worth & Income
As of 2026, Tems’ net worth is estimated at $3 million (approx. ₦4 billion). Her income comes from music streaming and record sales, songwriting royalties from her own releases and songs written for other artists, international concert tours including her Born in the Wild Tour, brand endorsement deals, and licensing fees. Because she produces and writes much of her own material, she earns a larger share of publishing income than many of her peers.
Personal Life & Family
Tems was raised largely by her mother after her parents separated, and she has an older brother who often accompanied her guitar playing when she was learning to sing. She is not married and has kept her romantic life out of the public eye, declining to confirm any relationship publicly. She lives in Lagos and has spoken about her faith and her desire for privacy despite her international fame. She is respected for an outspoken, independent public image — in 2023 she became the first female Afrobeats artist to attend the Met Gala, and she was listed on the Time 100 Next list.
Last updated: October 2026
