If you haven’t yet heard about gorgeous singer-songwriter Ayọ, you definitely need an introduction. This 31 year old woman and mother of two has a sound that is simply magical. Her music draws influences from jazz, soul, reggae, folk and African music. It stirs something within you.

Born Joy Olasumibo Ogunmakin in 1980, she decided to adopt the Yoruba translation of her name, Joy. Hence, the name, “Ayọ.” Ayo was born to a Nigerian father and a Romanian mother in Germany. However, she spent the first 2 years of her life in Nigeria before the family (she has 3 siblings) returned to Germany.

Ayo credits who she is and her career to her amazing father who raised her and her siblings as a single parent. Her mother became addicted to heroin when she was about 6 years old, spent some time in jail and left home. Her father did something uncharacteristic of the typical African dad – he encouraged her to concentrate on her music as a career and as a means of therapy for her rough childhood by buying her first guitar and influencing her with his music records as a part-time DJ. According to a 2007 interview with The Daily Mail UK,

“When Ayo was six, after her mother had left the family, she and her elder brother and sister were taken away from their father (her eldest brother was deemed old enough to stay) and put into care by German social services who felt that their father was not capable of raising four children on his own.It was a decision ? presented to their distressed father as the ‘only option’  that would set a pattern, which continued on and off until she was 14 …. As a child, I saw things that children should never see. My mother was a good mother when I was very small and she really loved us, but she became addicted to heroin and drugs turn you into a different person.

Sometimes she’d take us with her when she scored, sometimes she would bring her junkie friends home and take drugs in front of us, [sic] sometimes she would disappear, [sic] sometimes she’d come home and take things from the flat to pay for her drugs.

Of all Ayo’s experiences she recalls …. the most painful moment was being separated from her father. ‘We were woken up at six in the morning and there were three policemen and a female social worker in the room. They told us they were taking us to a nice place where we would be happy with lots of other children. My father came with us to the home, then he said, “OK, I have to leave you here, I will come soon,” and then he broke down and started crying. It was the first time I had seen my father cry and after that he cried many times in front of us, but that first time was such a shock; it’s something I can never forget.’

Ayo and her siblings stayed in the home for six months, during which they were only able to visit their father three times. At the end of their third visit, during the Easter holidays, her father decided that he would not take them back to the home as it was ‘breaking his heart’. The children were then allowed to stay with him on condition that their mother agreed to be involved in their care and went into rehab. It was the first of many attempts to get her to come off drugs, none of which would work (today her mother remains addicted to heroin).

A year and a half later, with their mother still not clean, the children were removed again and placed first with a foster family who turned out to be controlling and bullying (‘I was a slow eater, and If I hadn’t cleaned my plate in 30 minutes I would be given it back every meal time, even if the food had gone off’) and then back in a care home.

It wasn’t until she was 14 that Ayo was given permission to be in the one place she wanted to be ‘with my dad’.”

[Read more the rest of the interview at The Daily Mail] 

According to reports, because of her talents and great looks, Ayo was initially under pressure to portray herself with a more sexy pop look. However, she would not let who she is be compromised – with wonderful results. Today, Ayo is an amazing musician taking the world by storm with her 2 albums (Joyful and Gravity at Last) and a 3rd just released. She is already very well-received in Europe and is making her rounds within the United States.

According to her website, her new album was released in the US on March 20, 2012. “The title “Billie-Eve” is a play on the word “Believe” and is also the name of her daughter. This new album conveys the earnest dancing grace of a musician whose main credo is constant evolution. Ayo explains, ‘This third album is more straight to the point, drier in a way, more simple. It has this rock feeling to it because of the electric guitars. As opposed to my previous two albums, I played very little acoustic guitar on this one. I know they often say that your first album is and will be the most important of all. To me it’s this one… [Billie-Eve] opened up new doors for me, I produced it myself, and am very proud of it.”

Here’s a song that Ayo dedicated to her father. It’s called “Without You” and appears in her 2006 album, Joyful.

Here’s another song from her new album, Billie-Eve.

{Image Credit: Ayo Official Website}