Aṣa

Bukola Elemide (born 17 September 1982[1]), professionally known as Aṣa (/ˈæʃə/ ASH-ə, French: [aʃa]), is a Nigerian-French singer, songwriter, and recording artist.

Aṣa
Aṣa by Lakin Ogunbanwo
Aṣa by Lakin Ogunbanwo
Background information
Birth nameBukola Elemide
Born (1982-09-17) 17 September 1982
Paris, France
Genres
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • Piano
Labels
Websiteasaofficial.com

Early life

Aṣa was born in Paris to Nigerian parents who were working and studying cinematography in France. Her family returned to live in Nigeria when she was two years old. Her parents hail from Itoku, Abeokuta South local government area, Ogun State, Nigeria.[3] Aṣa grew up in Lagos city, in the south-western part of Nigeria, and 18 years later, returned to Paris, where her life as an artist took off.[1] She has three older brothers.[4]

Asa's music influences grew over the years from the collection of great music her father had built up for his work as a cinematographer. These records featuring American, Nigerian and African soul classics, included artists such as Marvin Gaye, Fela Kuti, Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, King Sunny Adé, Diana Ross, Nina Simone, and Miriam Makeba. Aṣa drew inspiration from the collection of her father's playlist.[5]

Career

In 2004, Asa met her manager and friend, Janet Nwose,[6] who introduced her to Cobhams Asuquo, who in turn became the producer of her first studio album Asa (Asha).

Aṣa returned to France at the age of 20 to study at the IMFP school of jazz music, where she was told by teachers that she should go ahead and become a recording artist because she was ready and needed no schooling. Back in Nigeria, her first single, "Eyé Adaba," was beginning to get airplay. Aṣa soon signed to Naïve Records. Partnered with Asuquo, and with the new involvement of Christophe Dupouy and Benjamin Constant, she produced her first platinum-selling self-titled album, Aṣa. The release of the album saw Aṣa charting radios across Europe, Asia, and Africa and went on to win the prestigious French Constantin Award in 2008 when she was voted the best fresh talent of 10 singers or groups by a jury of 19 music-industry specialists in Paris.[7]

Her second album, Beautiful Imperfection, in collaboration with French composer Nicolas Mollard, was released on 25 October 2010, went platinum in 2011. The lead single from Beautiful Imperfection, titled "Be My Man", was released in late September 2010. It was reported that by 2014 Aṣa sold 400,000 albums worldwide.[8]

Asa's third studio album, Bed of Stone, was released in August 2014. The singles are "Dead Again", "Eyo", "Satan Be Gone", "The One That Never Comes" and "Moving On". She went on a world tour from 2015 to 2017.

On 14 May 2019, she released a new single titled "The Beginning" and on 25 June 2019, she released the single "Good Thing".[9][10] On 11 September 2019, she announced on her Twitter page that her new album, Lucid, will be released on 11 October 2019, which it was. She released yet another album on the 25th of February 2022 titled "V" featuring the likes of Wizkid, Nigerian highlife duo The Cavemen and Ghanaian artist Amaarae.

Discography

Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions[11]
FRA
[12]		 BEL
[13]		 ESP
[14]		 SUI
[15]		 US
Heat
[16]		 World
[17]
2007 Aṣa (Asha) 15 81 — 65 32 3
2010 Beautiful Imperfection 14 35 61 54 — 3
2014 Bed of Stone 38 80 — 64 — —
2019 Lucid — — — — — —
2022 V — — — — — —

Live albums
  • Live in Paris (2009)
  • Live in Lagos (2017)

Singles
Year Title FRA
[12]		 BEL
[13]		 Album
2007 "Fire on the Mountain" — — Aṣa (Asha)
"Jailer" — —
2010 "Be My Man" 89 76 Beautiful Imperfection
2011 "Why Can't We" — 94
2012 "The Way I Feel" — —
"Ba Mi Dele" — — Beautiful Imperfection (re-release)
2014 "Dead Again" 109 — Bed of Stone
2015 "Eyo" — —
2019 "The Beginning" — — Lucid
"Good Thing" — —
"My Dear" — —

Soundtrack appearances
  • 2007: "Kokoya" - on the soundtrack to the film The First Cry
  • 2009: "The Place To Be" - soundtrack for GTBank
  • 2011: "Zarafa" - soundtrack for the animation movie Zarafa

Awards and nominations

See also

References
  1. "There's 'Fire On The Mountain'; Where Is Asa?", Sahara Reporters, 7 October 2018.
  2. "Asa". BMG. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. "Asa - Bukola Elemide". Man Power.
  4. "bukola elemide (asa)". Nigeria Galleria.
  5. "My S-xuality Is Been Questioned - Aṣa‌". Nigeriafilms.com. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  6. "Why Asa and her female manager are still best of friends" GhanaWeb, 3 October 2016.
  7. Rhoads, Celeste, "Artist Biography", AllMusic.
  8. "Asa Discography". Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  9. "VIDEO: Asa releases new single after five-year break", Punch (Nigeria), 14 May 2019.
  10. "Asa – The Beginning", Rhythmicals, 14 May 2019.
  11. "Asa – Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
  12. Hung, Steffen. "lescharts.com - Discographie Asa [FR]". lescharts.com.
  13. "Discographie Asa [FR]". ultratop.be.
  14. Hung, Steffen. "spanishcharts.com - Asa [FR] - Baby Gone". spanishcharts.com.
  15. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Asa (FR)". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  16. "Asa - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard.
  17. "Asa - Chart history - Billboard". Billboard.
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