Biography

Justina Ogunlolu has been growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, and since her early youth she was responsible for earning a living for herself as well as her family through singing and dancing performances. Soon she became the lead singer of a renowned gospel choire in Lagos and when the American gospel singer Samanthia Cassidy heard recordings of this choire, she felt so compelled by Justina’s voice that she came to Nigeria to produce the album “Nigeria oh Nigeria” with her at the age of 13.

In the following years, Justina got increasingly well-known in the Lagos music scene as singer of several bands and through various studio productions of Nigerian artists for whom she did back up vocals. Especially during live-concerts Justina becomes a phenomenon and with her boundless energy turns both small clubs as well as crowds of several thousand people regularly into “hothouses”.

In 2005, Justina won „Project Fame“, Nigeria’s equivalent of the „Pop Stars” competition and qualified for the Panafrican contest in Johannesburg. Due to bureaucratic hurdles, however, she was not able to take up this opportunity.

Nevertheless, over the last couple of months Justina has produced her first album – “Life goes on”. With her astonishingly powerful and variable voice Justina combines different elements from Soul, Hip Hop and Dance Music to her very own style. In her songs which she composes largely herself she evokes her relentless love for life but also touches on pressing social issues such as poverty, corruption and the treatment of women in Africa.

2006 now promises to turn into Justina`s year. She is playing her first shows in Europe (Switzerland, Italy, Germany) and European record labels start to have her on their radar screen - good for her objective … to release her first album in Europe at the latest in the coming year.

Listen to her songs and judge yourself … Justina is coming!