Michael Collins Ajereh – A Don in Africa’s music industry

Michael Collins Ajereh is popular for many reasons, and has been for a long time. From the days of Mo’Hits records where he produced several hit labels, till now where Mavin Records is the label behind some outstanding artistes in Africa, Don Jazzy does not seem to be slowing down in his contributions to the African music industry.

Though born in Umuahia (Abia State), Michael hails from Delta state. He was born on 26 November 1982 to an Isoko (Delta State) father and an Umuahia Princess. Shortly after he was born, the family relocated to Ajegunle, Lagos wheree he also had his early education.

As a child, he loved music. At age 4, he had started singing, dancing and playing drums in church. In secondary school at the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Michael developed interest in instruments and started playing the bass guitar at age 12. He also learned how to play some traditional and percussion instruments along the way. He gave his musical skills a major boost when he went ahead to take producing lessons from O-Town record company.

After secondary school, he attended Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state and received his first degree in Business Administration. At his uncle’s instance, Michael went to London in 2000 and started playing drums in his neighborhood church. He would also play juju music and do some minor gigs here and there. While at this, he took up a job as a security guard at McDonald’s, and soon got a chance to connect with some of Nigerian music stars, like JJC, Kas, The 419 Squad and D’Banj. A few years later, he partnered with D’Banj to launch Mo’Hits Records, and by 2006, he was already becoming famous with his adopted introductory line “It’s Don Jazzy Again!” The co-owned label – Mo’Hits Records – took him all the way into fame and over the next couple of years, Don Jazzy became a musical sensation affiliated with some of the biggest musical hits in the continent. Some of his most memorable tracks at the time included Oliver Twist, Mo’hits Crew All stars, Wande Coal’s Mushin 2 MoHits, No long thing and D’Banj’s The Entertainer.

Michael Ajereh also produced and added vocals for artistes like Dr SID, Ikechukwu, D’Banj, Kween, D’Prince, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Kanye West. In 2011, he was invited to work on Kanye West’s collaboration with Jay-Z titled “Lift Off” for the “Watch The Throne’’ album.

Mavin Record rises from the ashes of Mo’Hits Record

D’Banj and Don Jazzy split in 2012 bringing an end to the days of Mo’Hits Record. Some reports say the split was a result of some

disagreements on ownership and debt issues, but both parties cited artistic differences as the reason for their separation. Afterwards, Don Jazzy launched Mavin Records, and using the experience and network he had gotten over the years, it did not take long before Mavin Record became a force of its own.

He signed on a new selection of artists, while retaining some of the old Acts from Mo’Hits Records. In an interview with City People magazine, he explained that he has a preference for signing up new artistes and working with them to grow, rather than stay hooking up the big boys.

On 8 May 2012, he released an album featuring the artists signed to his label. The songs on the album included: Amarachi, Forever, Oma Ga, Take Banana and Chocolate, YOLO and the anthem I’m a MAVIN. He also built a social network platform called “Marvin League” to complement and market his label. Mavin Records has a good number of top notch artists like Tiwa Savage ,Di’ja, Korede Bello, Reekado Banks, D’Prince and Dr Sid signed to its name. In 2019, he signed Rema and in 2020 signed Ayra Starr.

The production Eminado and Surulere won the World Music Award for World’s best collaboration in 2014, as well as the 2014 Headies Award for Best Pop Single. Eminado also won MTV Africa Award for song of the year in 2014, Surulere won The 2014 Headies Award for Producer of the year, and Godwin Nigeria Entertainment Award for Best Collabo in 2014. Mavin Records has also won several awards since it was launched 9 years ago.

In 2019, Don Jazzy announced that in a bid to expand its operations, Mavin Records has commissioned its new creative and corporate office spaces in Lagos, thus relocating the respective offices to Lekki and Victoria Island.

Don Jazzy’s money mills

The top producer and singer also has cash flowing in from other sources outside of the music industry. He has endorsements from several brands like Loya Milk, MTN, Samsung and Konga E-commerce, which brings him millions of naira in revenue.

His endorsements from Loya milk – 2012 till date are worth 40 million naira, MTN - 40 million naira reviewed upwards from the previous 25 million; Samsung (2013) - 110 million naira and Konga e-commerce mall (2013), worth 15 million naira.

He revealed in his interview with City People Magazine that he has investments in oil, owning a large number of fuel tankers. Also reported is that he has some choice properties in Lagos state, as well as a club known as POP which he decided to shut down for unknown reasons.

Other Interests

Don Jazzy has an actor side to him. He made a movie appearance in Moses Innang’s ‘The last 3 digits’ in 2012, alongside other star casts like Ali Baba, A.Y., Nonso Diobi and Dr SID. He also features in skit videos and comedy dramas to support young talents.

The popular music producer is also known for his generosity and philanthropy. He has given several gifts to artistes like the brand new Prado SUV he presented to Tiwa Savage at her wedding. At the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown, he initiated and did several give-aways to randomly selected persons.

Recently, he launched a crowdfunding platform, Sapio Funds, to help people raise funds for their needs and the projects they care about. This appears to be another avenue for him to help people, as he announced personal donations of N100,000 each to 10 selected projects nationwide.

Recognitions

He has been nominated for a lot of Awards as an individual singer, and as a music producer over the years. Very early in his producing career, He won the Producer of the Year at the Nigerian Music Awards (2006) and Nigerian Entertainment Awards (2007)

He won the Headies award for Producer of the year for ‘’Over the moon’’, ‘’Mr endowed’’ and ‘’Pop something’’ in 2011. In 2012, he won the Nigerian Entertainment award for music producer of the year.

He was also Producer of the Year for Dorobucci, at the 2014 Headies, and the following year, he clinched the City People Entertainment Special Recognition award 2015. Ajereh received The Beatz Award TM (2019) for New Discovery Producer.

Other fun facts about Don Jazzy

Ajereh revealed in one interview that he writes all of his songs himself, and has not had anyone write a line of song for him in his career. He also claims to be a really shy person, and cannot rap.