Born Innocent Ujah Idibia in Jos, Plateau State Tuface Idibia is a Nigerian singer-song writer, actor and record producer. He was a member of the defunct R&B/Hip-hop group Plantashaun Boiz ,other members are Faze and BlackFace Naija. TuFace is currently one of the most popular artistes on the African music scene.
Idibia hails from Okpokwu local government area and from the Idoma ethnic group in the southern part of Benue State, in central Nigeria. He attended Mount Saint Gabriel's Secondary School in Makurdi, Benue State. He schooled
briefly in the Institute of Management & Technology, IMT, Enugu, one of the country's foremost higher institute of learning where he did his preliminary National Diploma course in Business Administration. Though, he did not finish but would hone his skills in music by performing in shows and parties organised by the IMT and some other schools like Enugu State University of Science & Technology, Enugu (ESUT) and University of Nigeria Enugu Campus (UNEC).
His major breakthrough in the IMT was composing and singing the jingles in the famous radio show GB Fan Club in Enugu State Broadcasting Services (ESBS) in 1996. He then relocated to Lagos and teamup with his ex-IMT and ex-Mount Saint Gabriel's mate BlackFace to form Plantashun Boyz. He started calling himself "2Face" in 1996. "The name to me just refers to the outside and inside: when you first see me you see the outside but when you get to know me, you see the inside," he said in an interview with the BBC.
His award winning hit track "African Queen" was used as the sound track of the 2006 comedy film, Phat Girlz. This made him even more recognised internationally.
The Plantashun Boyz came together briefly in 2007 to record an album which they titled 'Plan B'.
He also released a promotion album in 2008 which has spawned a hit, "Enter the Place", which was written by Churks though one of his least successful hits ever, did well in some charts. The promo CD is said to have faced distribution and sales problems, going unnoticed in some areas of the country. It has led to the shift of the release date of the album from 2008 to 2009 instead of the proposed release date announced in 2007. Tuface released his fourth solo album, Unstoppable(The Intl. Edition) in 2009 which was sold for 1000naira making it the first album ever sold for that amount in Nigeria. He is also reported to have recorded a single with Mary J. Blige
In 2010 with his Unstoppable Album(The Intl. Edition) he won 2 awards at the 2010 Soundcity Music Video Awards (SMVA), He also won the Channel O Most Gifted Western African and the MTV African Music Awards (Best Male and Artist of the year) making him the most successful pop singer in Africa. He is the lead vocalist of the Sony All African 08 Project alongside 7 other stars across Africa recording their first singles with R.Kelly and Prince Lee titled "Hands Across The World". He was also known for his narrow escapes from death, he had close shave with death three times, at different locations and times, including gun shots.
Aside from running his own record label known as Hypertek after leaving Kennis Music, the artist has established the Tuface Idibia Foundation, which is into charity. In December 2010, the foundation collaborated with the Hands Project International for an Aids charity dinner. His show held at the expo center was the best of its kind, as it featured all the notable Nigerian artists, particularly 9ice, Dbanj and P-Square.
And in March 2011, he was made the first and Only ambassador of The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for which he released a song and video titled Man unkind.
Tuface is not much of a eater so his favourite food is unknown but his favourite color is Black.
Tuface past albums are:
- 2004: Face 2 Face
- 2006: Grass 2 Grace
- 2008: The Unstoppable
- 2010: The Unstoppable International Edition
You can follow Tuface on twitter @2faceidibia.
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