Hello WORriors! It’s #WCW and our Woman Crush is Waje!
Aituaje Vivian Ebele Iruobe was (born September 1), known as Waje (an acronym for “Words aren’t just enough”), is a Nigerian singer whose vocal range covers three octaves. She was born on September 1, in Akure, Ondo State, then moved to her hometown, Benin City, Edo State.
She attended the Word of Faith Group of Schools and joined the choir. As a young singer she once sang gospel tunes to the delight of the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa of Church of God misson int. Archbishop Benson was quite impressed by her singing and decided to help her throughout her whole secondary school days. She then moved to Nsukka to receive a degree in social work at the University of Nigeria. During her school years, Waje focused on her musical works such as school concerts and fellowships.
In 2007, Waje decided to take the next step and fully launch her music career. She was still a student at the time and paid her dues by doing lots of free shows and gigs, singing at every given opportunity.
The first major spotlight she received was in 2008, when she featured in the P-Square hit track titled “Do Me”. This track was critically acclaimed across and was widely known across Africa and some parts of Europe. This helped boost her career a little further, after which she participated in Advanced Warning (a reality TV show which featured artists that are on the verge of a breakthrough). The reality show was organised by MTV Base South Africa and Zain Nigeria, where she came out as the first runner up.
She has shared the stage with various international artists such as Wyclef Jean in South Africa, opening for Kerry Hilson during a show organised in Calabar, and has also worked with a lot of artists who had hit singles, including “One Naira” with M.I, “Do Me” with P-Square, and more. She also collaborated with Dencia on “True Love” and has a list of songs that have received a number of award nominations and winnings. She released her self-titled debut studio album in 2013.
Waje headlined the song ‘Strong girl’ which is the theme song for ONE Campaign’s ‘Poverty is Sexist’ in 2015 and also joined Bono in Lagos, Nigeria for the Lagos campaign in 2015. She is among the judges for The Voice Nigeria, alongside 2face Idibia, Timi Dakolo and Patoranking.
Waje worked with the youths of her community through an organisation “Waje’s Safe House”, where she teams up with other NGOs quarterly to help fight for their cause. The first project supported under Waje’s Safe House was the Mental and Environmental Development Initiative for Children, assisting the Project HELP (Help Educate the Less Privileged) which the goal of raising funds for allowing children to continue their studies in the school in Makoko, through Ring Back Tones with her hit singles “Oko Mi” and “I Wish”.
Women Of Rubies celebrates you, amazing Waje!