Biography
Nigerian singer, song writer and producer Teckno, whose real name is Augustine Miles Kelechi Edgar was born in Bauchi, northern Nigeria on the 17th of December, 1992.
The twenty four year old singer is of Igbo descent and a native of Ebonyi State, South eastern region of Nigeria. The singer did most of his growing up in the north where his father served in the army.
When he was only eight, his parents enrolled him in a music school to learn the rudiments of music, this is probably because his father was a music lover whose love for playing the guitar piqued the interest of his boys in music. Their father was their earliest and greatest musical influence.
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Today, the singer’s younger brother Augustine Uche who goes by the stage name ‘Spotless’ is also part of the Nigerian music industry and like his brother Teckno, he plays the guitar, piano and drums with expertise. Apart from his father, Teckno cited Chris Brown and Psquare as his other musical influences.
The singer who admits that he grew up in a comfortable home where his parents were able to meet their needs, had his secondary education at the Heritage School in Kaduna and spent some time at the Green island School.
His career officially kicked off when he signed a record deal with the music label ‘K Money‘ under which he released his first single (which featured Davido) titled “Holiday” and this marked the beginning of a successful career.
In 2012, the young act who is also fondly called the golden boy released a single “Onye Ne Kwu” a remix of Ice Prince Zamani’s hit single “Oleku”, this got the attention of famous comedian Julius Agwu who invited him to perform the single on his show “Crack ya Ribs” in Abuja.
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His performance was very much applauded and captured the attention of Iyanya and his former manager Ubi Franklin of Made Men Music Group.
They encouraged Teckno to move to Lagos to pursue a musical career as he was evidently talented; Teckno obliged and was officially signed to Made Men Music Group where he gained prominence as an artist.
He immediately released two singles “Dance” and “Anything” and bagged several award nominations as a result but his breakthrough came in 2015, when he released “Duro”.
Duro was a massive hit, so massive the singer had to feature rapper Phyno and highlife crooner Flavour Nabiana in a remix later that same year.
The single topped charts at both local and international music scenes and officially raised the singer’s career from an upcoming act to a major artist in the entertainment industry.
Attaining success did not stop Teckno however from making good music, his unique selling point is the ability to fuse afro beat, high life and hip hop into beautiful and danceable sounds of music.
He is a role model to young Nigerians, an inspiration in pursuing their talents, dreams and visions. In 2015, he released “Maria” and “Where“, and in 2016, he released “Pana”.
Like Duro, Pana was a very successful hit that still tops charts till date. It was featured in Comedian Ay’s recently released movie “10 days in sun city”.
Teckno has no album yet but has co produced an album titled “The Evolution” alongside his label mates. He also collaborated with his former label “K Money” back in Abuja to produce a Nolly wood movie.
The sought after artist has a loyal and huge fan base that took out time to wish him well and pray for him on social media when he had health challenges and had to cancel scheduled performances to receive treatment in the United States of America.
He returned to Nigeria and took to social media to appreciate his fans with a give away, He gave a total of about five million naira to people with different issues that range from inability to feed, hospital bills, small scale business owners and others with school fee issues.
He is currently touring (#TheLionKingTour) with his music and has performed in Cotonou, Kenya and Rwanda so far.
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Songs And Collaborations
Duro was Teckno’s biggest song and one of the biggest nigerian songs before the release of “Pana” in 2016. As an artist with a record of successful hit songs, he has worked with very many prominent artists like Ice Prince Zamani, Iyanya, Davido, Reekado Banks, Phyno, Bracket, Krizbeatz and many others.
His hit songs include Shoki (2014), Diana (2016), Yawa (2016), Maria (2015), Pana (2016), Rare (2016), Where (2016), Wash (2017), Go (2017) and Samantha (2017). He was one of the artists with the highest number of hits in 2016.
Deals, Endorsements And Networth
Teckno in early 2017 signed a four million dollar deal with Sonny entertainment a company that also has deals with Tiwa Savage, Seyi Shay, Wizkid and other top international acts like the late Michael Jackson.
He also signed a lucrative deal with telecommunications giant MTN. In march 2017, he signed another deal with Ciroc alongside Banky W. He is worth about three hundred million naira and is currently one of Nigeria’s highest earning music artists.
Controversy
Sometimes, success is trailed with controversy especially among famous people. In 2016, the singer took to twitter to express his displeasure for being nominated under the Next Rated Category of The Headies Awards, the biggest Nigerian music Awards.
He refused to turn up for photo sessions, interviews and other pre requisite of the award ceremony and this led to his disqualification.
Later in 2016, he was attacked by Tanzanian fans who accused him of sleeping with some tanzanian celebrities as a result of a sexually indicting picture he posted, He later apologised and deleted the picture.
Nominations
2014 Nigerian Entertainment Awards: Best New Act
2016 Nigerian Entertainment Awards: Hottest Single of the year, Best Music Video of the year and Afropop artist of the year.
WatsupTv Africa Music Video Award 2016: African video of the year, Best African Male video of the year, Best West
African video of the year and Best Afro Pop Video of the year.
BET Awards 2017: Best International Act
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Awards
9th Nigerian Music Video Awards 2015: Best Pop Extra Video
MTV Africa Music Awards 2016: Best New Act
