I didn’t plan to become a musician – Timi Dakolo

Nigerian singer Timi Dakolo has shared that his journey into music was purely by chance.

In a recent episode of the On The Record podcast, the Great Nation hitmaker reflected on his path to becoming a professional musician, revealing that music was initially just a hobby. Dakolo explained that he only decided to pursue music as a career after winning the first season of Idols West Africa in 2007.

He said, “I still see myself as an accidental musician. I used to sing in the choir and enjoyed it, but music wasn’t something I thought would be my career. The first exposure to music was during morning devotion. Later, we started singing street songs, writing them down in notebooks—mostly to impress girls. Music wasn’t a profession I planned on. It was after winning Idols that I thought about doing it professionally.”

He added, “I said to myself, ‘Okay, we’re here. Sometimes, you meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it.’”

Timi Dakolo also shared the story of how he met his wife, Busola. The couple married in 2012 and has three children together.

In an interview with Pulse, Dakolo revealed that he met Busola in church, but she wasn’t initially interested in starting a romantic relationship with him. Despite her resistance, Timi was determined and said he “suffered to win her love.”

He also mentioned that Busola feels embarrassed whenever he picks her up in the branded Picanto car he won from Idols West Africa in 2007, humorously noting her discomfort with the car’s association.