Aya Danioko is her real name, known professionally as Aya Nakamura, She is a famous Malian-French singer.
She was born on May 10, 1995 in Bamako, Mali. Aya comes from a family of griot, West African storytellers, praise singers, and poets of oral traditions.
She immigrated to France with her family as a child, growing up in Aulnay-sous-Bois. She is the eldest in a family of five children.
Aya Nakamura studied fashion in La Courneuve. But as fate would have it, the profession stopped appealing to her and she ventured into music.
She later launched into music with the stage name Aya Nakamura, after the character Hiro Nakamura of the science fiction TV drama Heroes.
Aya became a French national after she applied for French nationality as an adult and was granted in May, 2023.
Aya Nakamura’s Music Career
Nakamura began her music via online, gaining lots of followers with “Karma” and “J’ai mal”. Dembo Camara, a long-time friend, became her producer and manager.
Her popularity grew, notably with her song, “Brisé”. She became a force to reckon with and garnered large fan base on YouTube, and a duo with rapper Fababy “Love d’un voyou” resulted in her charting in France for the first time.
In 2014, at the age of 19, she released her first single “Karma” on Facebook. With the help of the producer Seysey. She composed a break-up song, “J’ai mal”, with a zouk-inspired melody. The song’s video had reached more than 1 million YouTube views at that time. An old-time friend, Dembo Camara, became her producer and artistic agent.
In 2016, Aya made the song “Brisé” with the composer Christopher Ghenda. She then released another song, “Love d’un Voyou”, featuring the rapper Fababy. As a tribute to her cultural heritage and roots, she did a concert at the Modibo-Keïta stadium in Bamako, opening for the American-Nigerian star Davido. She dedicated a song to famous Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, who was born in Bamako like her.
In January 2016, the singer signed a deal with Rec. 118 and Parlophone, a label from Warner Music France. During the same year, she kept doing collaborations and she released her second single “Super Héros”, featuring the rapper Gradur.
In 2017, Aya released her debut album Journal Intime. This was followed in 2018 by its follow-up Nakamura, which was certified Diamond in France. The song was a huge success with more than 1.2 million copies sold worldwide. Her songs rank high in French-speaking countries and abroad.
It spawned the hit singles “Djadja” and “Copines” and launched the singer’s international career.
The same year, the talented music star beat the record held by Édith Piaf since 1961 as the most listened-to French-speaking female artist in the Netherlands.
Aya Nakamura has continued to dominate the music scene in France with a number of good hit singles and albums.
On April 6 2018, Aya Nakamura released “Djadja”—the first single from her second album—which stayed two consecutive weeks at number one on the French chart, and was later certified Diamond.
The song received wide recognition and became a summer hit in France and soon became an international hit. She became the first French female artist to reach number one in the Netherlands since Edith Piaf with “Non je ne regrette rien” in 1961.
“Djadja” was also the first Francophone song since 2009 to reach the top of the Dutch charts, the last one being “Alors on danse” from Belgian artist Stromae. “Djadja” then conquered charts and radios all over Europe.
In January 2019 she won the European Music Moves Talent Award for Best Urban album.
In February 2019 she was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Urban Album at the France Music Awards.
In April 2019, she released the video for “Pookie”, which became the most viewed French video in 2019.
In May 2019, she was portrayed by The New York Times as “one of the most important acts in Europe now, musically and socially”.
In June 2019, she earned her first nomination at the BET Awards as Best International Act.
In Summer 2019 she gained momentum with the single “Pookie”, including high-profile international versions with multi-platinum rappers Capo Plaza and Lil Pump.
In October, “Djadja” went Platinum in Spain and Portugal, while “Pookie” was certified double Platinum in Italy.
On 25 October 2019, Nakamura released a re-issue of the now double platinum Nakamura with five new songs, including the top-five single “40%”.
In the December year-end recaps, she was named Most Watched French female artist in 2019 by YouTube, and Most Streamed French female artist in 2019 by Spotify.
On 3 January 2020, she was announced to perform at Coachella Music & Arts Festival 2020.
On 12 June, Nakamura released a Spanish-language version of “Djadja (Remix)” with Colombian singer Maluma.
On 17 July 2020, she released the single “Jolie nana” as the lead single from her third studio album Aya. It debuted at number one on the French singles chart, and achieved Gold status in 2 weeks. It also reached the top 10 in Belgium and Switzerland as well as top 40 in the Netherlands. On the UK Afrobeats chart, it reached number 7.
On 9 October, she released the second single from the album, “Doudou”. It peaked at number 6 in France, in the top 40 in Belgium and number 16 on the UK Afrobeats chart.
She announced the album on 15 October, with a release date of 13 November. The track-list was released on 4 October, revealing collaborations with Stormzy, Ms Banks and Oboy.
In 2023, Nakamura was featured in the music video for ‘Sans Moi,’ a track in the Franglish’s album Vibe, and in the music video for ‘C’est Cuit’ by Major Lazer. Her cover of Vogue France was chosen as the favorite cover of 2023.
In the month of April, 2024, Aya Nakamura was announced to perform at France Olympic Games scheduled to hold in France in 2024.
Nakamura’s music draws on genres such as pop, R&B, zouk, and Afrobeats, with Shamira Ibrahim of Pitchfork calling her “fearlessly genre-bending”. She is known to write her own lyrics. They are in French and make frequent use of argot as well as expressions borrowed from other languages such as English, Arabic and Bambara. Due to her family’s background, she has sometimes been described as continuing the griot tradition, but she argues that her work is different.
Aya Nakamura is currently signed to Warner Music France label. She has also been nominated for several prestigious awards and won good numbers.
Her Personal Life
Nakamura gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2016. The child’s father’s identity is however not known.
In October 2020, she confirmed her relationship with music video producer Vladimir Boudnikoff, with whom she had worked previously. Their daughter was born in January 2022.
Sadly, an incident occurred in August the same year, Nakamura announced their separation the following October. Both Nakamura and Boudnikoff were charged with reciprocal domestic violence in relation to the events of August 2022.
On 23 February 2023, a Bobigny judge awarded a fine of €10,000 against Nakamura and Boudnikoff €5,000 respectively.
Her Humanitarian Work
Aya Nakamura is also a humanitarian. Since 2019, Nakamura has supported the ALIYAH association, created by the parents of a young girl suffering from hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS).
Aya Nakamura’s Net Worth
Aya Nakamura has made huge fortune from her music career with an estimated net worth of over $2 million dollars.
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