Personality of The Week: TuFace Innocent Idibia

Nigerian musician Innocent Idibia, popularly known as 2face Idibia was born in Jos Nigeria on the 18th of September 1975. He is from the Idoma ethnic group of Benue state. 2face attended Mount Saint Gabriel's Secondary School in Makurdi, Benue State. He schooled briefly in the Institute of Management & Technology, IMT Enugu, where he did his preliminary National Diploma course in Business Administration. 2face did not complete his diploma program but he got his major breakthrough during his school days composing and singing the jingles for the radio show GB Fan Club in Enugu State Broadcasting Services (ESBS) in 1996. After a while he moved to Lagos to join his ex-schoolmate and friend Augustine Ahemdu a.k.a Blackface to form the defunct group "plantashun boyz". In 2004 the band made up of 2face, blackface and faze (Chibuzor Oji) split up. On May 15th 2004, his 1st solo album was released , including international hit African queen, and club bangers like “Nfana Ibaga” and ‘keep on rocking".In 2006 the hit track African queen was used as a sound track in the Hollywood movie phatgirlz which he was paid hugely for. The Plantashun Boyz came together briefly in 2007 to record an album which they titled 'Plan B'. He also released a promotion album in 2008 which has spawned a hit, "Enter the Place", which was written by Churks though one of his least successful hits ever, did well in some charts. Problems with album distribution in 2007 caused as shift of the release date of the album from 2008 to 2009. 2face released two singles from the international version of his Unstoppable album and is the first Nigerian artist to have an appropriately pricedinternational album. Upon leaving the music label Kennismusic he set up his own record label known as Hypertek entertainment. He was also known for his narrow escapes from death, he had close shave with death three times, at different locations and times, including gun shots. e is part of the Sony All African One8 Project alongside seven other musicians across Africa recording a single with R. Kelly and Prince Lee titled "Hands Across the World". 2face proposed to his long time (13yrs) girlfriend on febuary15 2013(and mother of one of his kids "Isabella Idibia") Annie Macaulay. On May 2, 2012, 2Face Idibia and Annie Macaulay, a Nollywood actress, got married in Lagos, in a private ceremony. 2face announced his marriage via his Twitter page. He has a child with Annie Macaulay, and six children from previous relations. Annie Macaulay and 2Face had their traditional wedding on the 8 march 2013 in Eket, Akwa-Ibom State Nigeria. The couple also had a white wedding in Dubai, on the 23 March 2013 on an island. He’s speculated to worth over N550m with endorsement deals with Guinness, Airtel which earns him N20m and N22m respectively. He charges between N4 million and N5 million for shows. The artiste has invested heavily in real estate and stocks which is fetching him huge money. Some of his distinguished awards include: Song of the year for "African Queen" 2004 Nigeria Entertainment Awards New York. Best Album of the year 2004 Nigeria Entertainment Awards New York. Best Hip Hop and R&B Artiste 2004 Nigeria Entertainment Awards New York. Musician of the Year 2004 City People Awards for Excellence. Best Male Video 2005 Channel O Music Video Awards. Best African Video of the year 2005 Channel O Music Video Awards. Best African Act 2005 Channel O Music Video Awards. Best African Act 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards. Best African Act 2005 Kora Awards. Best R&B MTV Africa Music Awards 2009. Artist of the Year MTV Africa Music Awards 2010. Best Male MTV Africa Music Awards 2010. Most Gifted West African Video 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards. Best International Act: Africa BET Awards of 201. Album of the year 2011 Hip-Hop World Awards – "The Headies". Artist of the year 2011 Hip-Hop World Awards – "The Headies". Best R'n'B / Pop album 2011 Hip-Hop World Awards – "The Headies".