Fireboy DMLs real name is Adedamola Adefolahan and he was presumably born on 5th February 1996 in Sagamu, Abeokuta, Ogun State. There is a discrepancy over Fireboy’s real age. This is because while The Nigerian info and other local blogs place Fireboy’s year of birth in 1996, his Wikipedia page suggests that he was born either in 1996 or 1997. To the best of our knowledge, Fireboy has not cleared the air as to his real date of birth. He couldn’t have been born twice, could he?
One thing we can confirm about his birth is that he was born in Sagamu, Abeokuta, Ogun State. He was the first child in a family of all-male three children, not much else is known publicly about his family including his parents. However, Fireboy himself had debunked rumours that Bolaji Amusan, known as Mr Latin, is his father.
The rumours had begun after Olamide posted a picture of Mr Latin and asked fans to guess who the actor would look like if he wore a durag. But there was no fact to back this up.
Presumably, Fireboy DML’s father and mother still live in Abeokuta where they gave birth to him. He also grew up in that bubbling capital city of Ogun State and attended both his primary and secondary school education there.
However, when it was time to further his education, Fireboy opted for the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State. While the two states share common borders, the star had to adapt to a new environment at the university. At OAU, Fireboy DML studied English Language and was graduated in 2017 from the institution after earning a Bachelor in Arts (BA).
People close to him before he adopted the stage name, Fireboy, usually called him Damola. This his the short form of his first name. Let us now discuss how he started his music career.
Music career
According to Dazed Digital, Fireboy acknowledged that the love of arts grew on him as he was not from a family of artists. Also, while he had always written poems most of his adult life, he noted that he knew he could sing since he was 12 years old.
However, he always considered singing as something he could do but not as a serious talent. Definitely, not something he could even make money from. While he always wrote poems and some song lyrics, it was when he was at the university that he embraced his talent.
At the time, he was already around 16 or 17. He mentioned that the three musicians who influenced his singing greatly were Passenger, Wande Coal and Jon Bellion. Undoubtedly he listened to a lot of Tope Alabi, Yinka Ayefele, Celine Dion and Elton John while growing courtesy of his parents. Yet, his main influences are around the trio already mentioned.
Fireboy started to perform at some shows at his school and was popular among students. This was when he decided that maybe something could come out of making music.
His initial plan on completion of his first degree at OAU was to move back home to Abeokuta. But, he suddenly decided to take the risk to pursue a music career in Lagos.
Having no relatives in Lagos, he stayed with some friends he had made at school. Damola, as his close friends called him, began attending shows indiscriminately. He would beg to sing at some, at others, he would pay or have his friends pay for him.
However, the young artist knew that he was not making much progress. Thus, he had a rethink and decided to use another strategy.
Fortunately, one of his friends had some music equipment in his house. He started making his own songs and writing for other people. Speaking about that period, he says:
“I wrote (songs) for people, some for N30k, others for N50k. Songs that I regret selling, but it is part of the process.”
It was during this period he joined Yahoo Boy No Laptop (YBNL) Nation, founded by Olamide.
Net worth
While Fireboy DML is doing quite well, there is no verified information on how much he is currently worth. This is unsurprising as he is still a rising star. However, you may find some estimates about Fireboy’s net worth, touted by some blogs. These are merely guesses and have no facts to back them up.
Obviously, the artist earns income from his record label, royalties as well as from shows and other event appearances but the value of these are not publicly available.
In January 2020, Fireboy replaced Davido as the face of Apple Music #AfricaNow playlist. It is not specified if this meant that Apple paid the young superstar or not. Yet, this is a big achievement and it is one he should be proud of.
Also, according to the social media statistics website, Social Bladde, Fireboy likely makes about $1.3K – $20.5K monthly or $15.4K – $245.9K annually from his YouTube account. It’s likely his earning fall somewhere in the middle. Earnings both north or south od the projections are not unknown though.
These estimates are not in any way an indication of Fireboy DML’s net worth but are presented to support our conclusion that the young singer’s music is also doing well financially.
10 Facts Should Know About Fireboy DML
- Fireboy DML’s real name is Adedamola Adefolahan and the DML is an acronym for Damola.
- He is a graduate of English Language from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
- Fireboy DML did not take music seriously until his university days when he started performing at shows and began earning some money. And after his university education will beg to perform at shows and even paid money to be allowed to perform.
- Fireboy’s music influences are Passenger, Wande Coal and Jon Bellion.
- All the 13 songs in his debut album, Laughter, Tears and Goosebumps album were recorded within five days.
- He won the City People Music Awards Most Promising Act of the Year (2019) and Soundcity MVP Awards Festival Listeners’ Choice (2020) for Jealous.
- Fireboy DML replaced DMW’s Davido as the face of Apple Music #AfricaNow playlist in January 2020.
- Before venturing into music, he used to write poems, then he graduated into writing songs for other people.
- Fireboy was discovered by Olamide, who signed him into Yahoo Boys No Laptop (YBNL) Nation record label and also took him along with him to Empire, an American music publishing group.
- Fireboy created his own music ‘movement’, which he calls Afro-Life, distinguishing himself from the Afrobeats genre.
