Ayọ is the daughter of a Nigerian and a Romanian Roma. She learned to play several instruments, violin as a child, piano as a teenager and later guitar. She spent parts of her early childhood in Nigeria. She began traveling at the age of 21, then lived in London for a time, later settling in Paris' Quartier des Halles. It was here that she began producing her debut album, Joyful.
The word Ayọ, spelled with a dot under the "o", means "joy" in Yoruba. The title of their debut album refers to this. Ayo without a dot under the "o" is the name of a board game.
Until 2007, Ayọ lived in the Kerpen district of Brüggen. Together with musician and producer Patrice Bart-Williams, from whom she now lives separately, she has a son, born in 2005, and a daughter, born in 2010. In late 2007, the family moved to the United States, to the West Village in the Manhattan borough of New York.
Ayọ performed as the opening act for English singer Omar in 2002. She participated in the SWR3 New Pop Festival 2007 at the Baden-Baden Theatre. In 2007, the singer made a tour of Germany and the United States.
She wrote almost all the songs of her first album Joyful herself. US singer Norah Jones' producer Jay Newland produced the album's twelve tracks. The album was first released in France and Italy in 2006. In France, it reached platinum status in 2006 for more than 200,000 copies sold. In France, 374,000 copies were sold and the album reached 6th place as its highest chart position. The album reached number 35 in the Swiss charts, and their first single Down on My Knees also charted. In Germany, the album spent twelve weeks in the charts with #40 as its highest position.
The end of September 2008 saw the release of her second album Gravity at Last. This contains 13 songs written and composed by Ayọ herself. The album was recorded in just five days at Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, and was co-produced by Jay Newland.
Ayọ's third album Billie-Eve - named after her daughter - was released in France on 7 March 2011. It was partly recorded at Sear Sound Studio in New York. Four of the album's 15 songs (including It Hurts and Real Love) were later recorded in Paris. The album featured Craig Ross (Lenny Kravitz's guitarist), rapper Saul Williams, Matthieu Chedid and Gail Ann Dorsey (David Bowie's bassist). The first track from the album to be released was I'm Gonna Dance as a single and video.
In 2013, Ayọ began recording her fourth album Ticket to the World with the producer of her first two albums, Jay Newland. The album was released on October 7, 2013.
Lyrics source and more information about this event: http://www.eventim.com/ayo--biography.html?affiliate=TUG&doc=artistPages/biography&fun=artist&action=biography&kuid=27264
