BIOGRAPHY OF P-SQUARE

Paul and Peter Okoye, better known as P Square, have a lifestyle the stuff of dreams. The twin brothers are unlikely to look back and regret their decision to abandon football for music. At home and abroad, P Square is a hit. In 2010, the group won the Best African Act award at the KORA All African Music Awards held in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso.

No doubt, P Square is the most successful African act, and this is evident with the massive success of their numerous concerts in the continent. Over the years, the three time MTV award winning group has made an enviable impact in Africa, doing sold out concerts. And till date, the demand is still waxing stronger. 

Clinching numerous awards both from the local and international scenes is one of P Square’s rewards of hard work, resilience and sheer dedication as entertainers. They have even lost count of their awards. 

Between June and July, 2010, P Square embarked on a successful tour of seven cities in the United States of America, and due to popular demand, they are lined up for more soon.

P Square’s grass to grace story began in St. Murumba College, Jos, where they joined a music and drama club. They began singing, dancing and miming songs by MC Hammer, Bobby Brown and Michael Jackson.

They later formed an acapella quartet called MMPP. Drawing inspiration from their idol, the late Michael Jackson, they started break dancing, and formed a group called Smooth Criminals in 1997.

Their artistic talent and enchanting dance routine soon made them household names in Jos, where they perform at school functions and other occasions.

In 1999, Peter and Paul returned to music school to develop their skills on keyboard, bass and rhythm guitar. Their works in those days included soundtracks for a number of films like Tobi, Moment of Bitterness and Evas River.    

The same year, they applied to the University of Abuja to study Business Administration. However, the Smooth Criminals disbanded when its members left for various institutions. Subsequently, Paul and Peter formed their own group, initially called Double P, P&P and Da Pees, before finally settling for P Square.

In 2001, P Square won the Grab Da Mic competition, which earned them sponsorship of their debut album by Benson & Hedges, the sponsor of the talent hunt programme. Their album first was Last Night, and barely three months after it was released from the stable of Timbuk2 music label in 2002, had a KORA award nomination in the Most Promising African Group category.

The breakthrough they needed came in 2005, with the release of their second album, Get Squared.  The album had mega hits like Story, Get Squared, Busy Body, Temptation, Omoge Mi and E Don Happen. The album scooped all the major awards on the domestic scene.

In November 2007, their third album, Game Over, confirmed them as masters of their game. It contained monster cuts like Do Me, No One Like You, Roll It and Ifunanya to mention a few.

Despite this spectacular success, they show no signs of let-up, scoring another set of hugely successful cuts on their fourth album, Danger. With songs like E No Easy, Possibility, I Love U, Gimme Dat, Troway and Break It, they blew minds.

They have been so successful that even the President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Campaore, whose country hosted the 2010 KORA Awards, ordered that they should be flown in with a private jet from London after their concert. P Square have invaded many homes, hearts and phones with their hit songs, which have become anthems on the lips of so many people and ring tones on thousands of phones.  

Apparently as a result of P Square’s spectacular exploits in Africa, America and Asia, the biggest telecommunication company in Africa, Globacom, gave them a record-breaking ambassadorial deal. However, the contract, which runs into several millions of naira, did not come as a surprise to the fans of P Square who strongly believed that the development was long overdue.  

On Saturday, 30 July, 2011, Peter and Paul, who are unarguably the most popular twins in Africa, hosted what was described as the ‘mother of all concerts’ in the history of Nigeria. Dubbed The Invasion, the sold-out concert which was held at the prestigious Expo Hall, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, was staged to herald the release of their smoking-hot fifth album, Invasion, which was released the same month.

Indeed, the album has invaded the hearts of music lovers and pundits in the Diaspora. With monster hits like Beautiful Onyinye, Chop My Money, She Is Hot, Asamkpokoto and Do As I Do among others, Invasion, which is jointly marketed by the biggest music marketers in Nigeria (T-Joe, Abhu Ventures and Obaino Music), was reported to have sold over a million copies within the first four days of its release, beating their first record of a million sales within six days with the Game Over album.

Later in August 2012, P Square released a single titled “Alingo”, it became a smashing hit that took the whole of Africa by storm. The video shot and codirected by their elder brother Jude “Engees” Okoye and Clarence Peters of Capital hill Production was rated as the best video that year. Their latest smash hit again “Personally” released mid June 2013. The video is a tribute to late Michael Jackson who inspired their musical career till date. The video and song was such a hit that it got the attention of  Jermaine Jackson, late Michael Jackson’s brother who commended the stars for doing such a tremendous job and hoped to meet with them.

AWARDS

Won

- Hip Hop World Awards 2006 - Best R&B Album (Get Squared)[4]

- Hip Hop World Awards 2006 - Best Music Video (Get Squared)

- Hip Hop World Awards 2006 - Album Of The Year (Get Squared)

- Hip Hop World Awards 2006 - Song Of The Year (Bizzy Body)

- City Mag 9th Awards Show (2006) - Best Hip Hop Group[5]

- Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006 - Album of the year (Get Squared)[6]

- Nigerian Music Awards (NMA) 2006 - Music Video of the year (Get Squared)

- 2007 Channel O Music Video Awards - Best Duo Or Group [7]

- 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards - Best Duo Or Group [8]

- 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards - Video Of The Year ("Do Me") [8]

- 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards- Best  Group

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Best Group[9]

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2009 - Best Group [10

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2010

- KORA Awards 2010 - Artiste of the Year

Nominated

- BET Awards 2010 - Best International Act

- KORA Awards 2003 - Most Promising African Group (Nominated)[11]

- MOBO Awards 2006 - Best African Act[12]

- MOBO Awards 2008 - Best African Act

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Best Live Performer[13]

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Best Video[13]

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Artist of the Year[13]

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2008 - Best R&B[13]

- MTV Africa Music Awards 2009 - Best Performer [14]