ARTISTE SPOTLIGHT

Tiwa Savage needs no formal introduction on ONPOIN101. Her music was first featured on the site in 2007 and since then she has dropped music sparingly due to her songwriting deal she got with  Sony records. However, she is getting ready to release a full length album in 2011 and we are convinced that she is one to look out for.
                           EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH ONPOINT 101

As far as you can remember, how long have you been in the music business? 
Since I was about 15/16.
                                       So how did you realize that you could sing and how did you go from singing for fun to singing as a career?
I think I realized when I would hear that I could actually mimic what some singers were doing, like I could learn and copy their ad libs and runs. I got my first paid gig as a background singer for George Michael. But only after I got signed to SONY as a songwriter was when I started earning money from music alone and not needing a day job.


Wow! George Michael? How did you get that gig?
Someone heard me singing at this local talent show and recommended me to the music director for George Michael. He was looking for background singers and so I went to audition and I got it. The show was in wembley arena in front of about 80,000 people. That show changed my life and I knew in my heart that one day I would be singing on a stage like that.
That’s big; Wembley Arena and you went on to sing backup for Sting, Mary J Bige and a few others. I saw your X-Factor final performance what was you experience on the show like?
Wow that was such an amazing experience, it was also a painful experience ’cause obviously I wanted to get through to the final stage but it gave me a taste of what having great exposure is and how to work to handle it. In hindsight I am blessed to not have made it cause I would not have been blessed to sign with SONY.
Very True. Speaking of Sony how did you land that deal?

It was by the grace of God. I wrote a song that Fantasia (winner of American idol) heard, loved and recorded. I was living in NY then and my visa was about to expire, the vice president of Sony heard the song and asked me to come to his office the next day. He heard my other songs and offered me a deal. It was such a blessing from God because in one second my situation changed for the better.