With an estimated net worth of about $500,000, Sinach is not just one of the most popular Nigerian gospel musicians but she is among the wealthiest at the moment. Blessed with a velvety smooth voice that has been described as ‘angelic’, Sinach is hailed as one of the most successful Nigerian gospel singers of all time. The name Sinach is now synonymous with gospel music as she is regarded as one of the biggest exports from Nigeria to the global stage as far as gospel music is concerned. Known internationally for several gospel hits that have topped different charts over the years, Sinach has released mind-blowing compositions that established her as one of the greatest worship leaders of her time.
Sinach, who is now the senior worship leader at Believers Loveworld or Christ Embassy, is the first singer-songwriter to top the Billboard Christian Songwriter chart for 12 weeks in a row. The incredible feat made her one of the most respected figures in the world of gospel ministration. She also became the first Nigerian to win the highly coveted Dove Awards. Some of her songs have been covered by many respected gospel musicians all over the world. Her song, Way Maker, made waves so much so that it became the most played song in churches across the United States for 2020. Without a doubt, Sinach has established herself as a globally blazing star who is changing the world with her voice.
Sinach Hails From The Southeastern Part Of Nigeria
Sinach, whose real name is Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu, was born on the 30th of May 1973 and is now 48 years old. The world-famous singer was born in Ebonyi State, one of the states in southeastern Nigeria. It was also here that she spent her early days growing up with her family. The singer of Igbo descent. Sinach comes from a large family. She is one of 7 children who were born to her parents. It is noteworthy that she is the second daughter of her parents. The identities of her parents have remained hidden. Also, her siblings, who are not as popular as her, have remained unknown to the general public.
She Studied Physics
It is not clear where Sinach had her elementary and high school education, however, we know that she attended the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, where she studied Physics. While in college, Sinach had already developed a great love for singing and sang whenever she got the opportunity, especially while in church. According to Sinach, it was also in the university that she became a born-again Christian. She made this revelation during an interview with Pulse Nigeria. According to her, she was walking around during her first year in university when she was invited to a particular church and she went. By the time she got there, she heard people singing so beautifully and it completely gripped her at once. The music plus the captivating message she heard from the pastor made her jump to the front to accept the altar call and she became born again at the end of the service. After the encounter, her whole life changed.
Sinach Started Singing Just For Fun
For Sinach, the singing began as something she just did for fun when she was very little. She found out she just loved to sing and her family took note of her lovely voice. Eventually, she joined her church choir in 1989 when she was about 16 years old. The choir she joined was in Christ Embassy, a church founded by popular Nigerian cleric, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
While she was working as a staff and choir member in Christ Embassy, Sinach made it a habit to perform for her family and friends. It was natural for her to do this because singing had become the one thing she enjoyed doing the most and everyone who knew her at the time understood this. However, even though she loved to sing and everyone knew she loved to sing, Sinach didn’t consider singing professionally or making a career out of it. All she wanted to do at the time was just sing for fun and entertain family and friends.
Sinach also once revealed that as a child, she often had dreams in which she saw herself singing to large crowds who were highly entertained by what she was doing. But, even with that, she didn’t actively pursue anything musically as a career except for joining the choir and also working in Christ Embassy as an administrative staff in the church.
Sinach Wrote Her First Song At 19
Years after joining the choir, when she was about 19 years old, Sinach eventually wrote her very first song. She made this revelation during a chat with BBC News Africa. According to Sinach, she was in church one day, listening to the pastor preach. Suddenly, she was struck by some of the things the pastor was saying. His words struck her so hard that she turned them into a song by writing them down on her jotter and rearranging them into lyrics. When she finished writing the song, she showed it to the other choristers and taught them how to sing it.
The other choir members loved the song and hailed for her a job well done. When the song was eventually sung to the church, it was well-received. It was so well received that the song became a piece people always sang in the church. Sinach was elated with the great reception the song got and this encouraged her to write more songs as time went on. Just like she did when she wrote her first song, Sinach continued listening to her pastor to get more inspiration to help her write her songs well. Even today, she gets most of her inspiration when she listens to her pastor preaching in church.
Sinach Released Her First Album At The Age Of 35
After writing her first song, Sinach soon began to write other songs which were sung by the choir at Christ Embassy. She rose to become one of the very popular faces in the church as she was always leading worship before the pastor came forth for ministration. Sinach wrote many songs that were sung in church and also followed her pastor, Chris Oyakhilome on his many crusades around the world. Still, Sinach did not try to make singing a professional career choice until much later.
Finally, in the year, 2000, Sinach realized that she could make a great career from being a professional musician. This realization dawned on her after she kept on getting very huge applause whenever she sang during crusades organized by Pastor Oyakhilome’s Christ Embassy. The reception she always got whenever she sang was so overwhelming that she knew that if she began singing professionally and releasing albums, she could reach more people and touch more lives.
After this realization, Sinach began to record her music. She recorded a lot of songs but did not put them out professionally at first. In fact, during her interview with Pulse Nigeria, Sinach revealed that she record an entire album in 2001 and sold about 10,000 copies in a single day but discontinued sales for some reason. According to her, she also recorded two more albums that never saw the light of day. Eventually, she released the album that is now known as her debut album in 2008 when she was about 35 years old.
‘Chapter One Launched Her To Stardom
In 2008, at about 35 years old, Sinach released her debut album called ‘Chapter One. By this time, the singer had already become a consummate stage performer who performed on several stages at several church crusades and conferences. So, she was already known to many people. But the release of her album launched her to even greater popularity. ‘Chapter One contained several hit songs, including Awesome God, Because You Love, The Presence of the Lord and This Is Your Season among others. Her song ‘This Is Your Season’ became massive around Nigeria and beyond. It eventually won the Song of the Year award in 2008, establishing Sinach among the top gospel music stars in Nigeria.
How Pastor Chris Oyakhilome Helped To Build Her Confidence
Sinach has always been full of praise for renowned Nigerian cleric, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome. This is because he has been her mentor from the beginning and it is because of him that she was able to find her footing as a gospel singer. According to her, pastor Chris first took notice of her when he heard her sing in the choir and later reached out to her to encourage her to keep singing. He also told her that she had a huge gift inside of her and she had to explore and bring it to life. As time went on, Sinach became one of the popular choristers at Christ Embassy as she was one of the worship leaders whose voice always got people captivated. During this time, Pastor Oyakhilome began to take her and other choristers to different crusades for ministration. Subsequently, Sinach developed great confidence in her abilities as a singer. When she began to sing professionally, performing in front of huge Christ Embassy audiences helped to build her fan base. Ultimately, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome played a very huge role in her rise to prominence as a gospel music star.
How She Got Her Stage Name
Born Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu, the singer knew that she needed a stage name when she started making music professionally. She also realized that she needed a stage name that people can connect with easily. So, she decided to choose Sinach. Speaking on how she came by her stage name the singer said she picked it out of her name Osinachi. She felt that people may {nd it hard to fully pronounce Osinachi but might find Sinach easier to say. According to her, she chose the name because, apart from being easy to pronounce, it is also catchy.
Sinach Has Released More Than 10 Albums
As of 2021, Sinach had recorded and released as many as 12 albums since her career started. After putting out her first album, ‘Chapter One in 2008, she released her second album titled ‘I’m Blessed’ in 2010. ‘I’m Blessed’ made a lot of waves as well with several hit songs such as ‘Born To Win’ and ‘Never Late’. In 2011, Sinach released her third album titled ‘From Glory to Glory’. She followed it up with her 4th album titled ‘Shout It Loud’ in 2012. The lead single from the album and other singles like ‘Victory’ and ‘You Are a Wonder’ got massive acceptance among many Christians.
In 2013, Sinach released her 5th album titled ‘Sinach at Christmas. Some singles from this album, including ‘Oh Come All Ye Faithful’ and ‘Oh Holy Night’ caused some stir. Sinach released her sixth album in 2014 and titled it ‘The Name of Jesus’. The album became one of the biggest projects in the gospel music arena in Nigeria that year. Singles like ‘Great Are You Lord’ and ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ became very popular among many Christians.
‘Way Maker’ Took Sinach’s Popularity To Another Level
In 2016, Sinach released her 7th album titled ‘Way Maker’. The 18-track album turned out to be one of her greatest body of works ever. The lead single from the album also titled ‘Way Maker’ achieved huge global success that stunned Sinach herself. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry of South Africa and has been covered by different highly acclaimed gospel musicians all over the world, including Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Mandisa, and others.
The popularity of ‘Way Maker’ kept increasing every day and in October 2020, it won the Dove Award for Song of the Year at the 51st GMA Dove Awards in the United States. This feat made Sinach the first Nigerian gospel artist to ever win the award. The song has also garnered a lot of views on music streaming platforms. On YouTube alone, the video of the song had raked in an amazing 100 million views by March 2019, making Sinach the first Nigerian gospel singer and third Nigerian singer overall to accomplish the feat.
Today, it has more than 180 million views making Sinach one of the most viewed Nigerian songs on YouTube. The song propelled Sinach to become the first African artist to top the Billboard Christian Songwriters chart in May 2020. Also, in 2016, the year she released the song, Sinach became the first recipient of the LIMA Songwriter of the Decade Award in recognition of her contribution to gospel music in the previous decade. ‘Way Maker’ also reached the top spot in the Christian Copyright Licensing International Top 100 songs in June 2020.
Even though Sinach was already a huge gospel music star, ‘Way Maker made her even more globally acclaimed. In 2018, Sinach released her 8th album titled ‘There’s an Over|ow’ and followed it up with her 9th album ‘Great God – Live in London’ in 2019. In 2020, the singer released two albums; ‘Acoustics – Volume 1’ and ‘Acoustics – Volume 2’. The next year in 2021, she released her 12th album titled ‘Greatest Lord’.
