Sinach ‘Osinachi Kalu’ Nigeria Gospel Singer

Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu, better known as Sinach, was born on March 30, 1972, in Nigeria. He has been a singer, songwriter, and senior praise leader for over 30 years. She is the first singer-songwriter to be at the top of the Billboard Christian Songwriter chart for 12 weeks in a row. Her song “Way Maker” was nominated three times and won the 51st GMA Dove Award for Song of the Year. She was the first Nigerian to win the Award. She also won the BMI song of the year award, and in 2021, the US Congress honored her while she was on tour in the US

She has put out 9 studio albums with great songs like “I Know Who I Am,” “Great Are You, Lord,” “Rejoice,” “He Did It Again,” “Precious Jesus,” “The Name of Jesus,” “This Is My Season,” “Awesome God,” “For This,” “I Stand Amazed,” “Simply Devoted,” and “Jesus Is Alive.”

Since it came out in 2015, “Way Maker” has also won a lot of praise and awards. Way Maker’s music video is the second most watched Nigerian music video on YouTube right now.[10] In March 2019, it became the third Nigerian video after Davido’s “Fall” and Yemi Alade’s “Johnny” to get 100 million views on YouTube. “Way Maker” has been covered by more than 60 Christian acts, like Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Leeland, Bethel Music, and Mandisa, and in many languages. In 2020, during the first few weeks of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, Way Maker was the song everyone was singing. Several popular videos were made in hospitals and parks with a lot of people singing the song. After being on the Christian Copyright Licensing International top 100 list for a few months in 2020, it jumped to No. 1 in June and has stayed there until December 2020, making it the most played song in churches across the United States in 2020.

During her trip to Israel in December 2017, Sinach got an award from the Bethlehem Hall of Faith.In September 2019, Sinach was the first gospel singer from Africa to tour India, where she was the main act at concerts that drew tens of thousands of people. She was the first African act to reach the top of the Billboard Christian Songwriters chart in May 2020. In July 2022, she became a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy.

In February of 2023, Roosevelt Skerrit, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, wrote a letter naming Sinach as its world ambassador.

Early Years

Sinach is from the state of Ebonyi in eastern Nigeria. She is the second daughter of seven kids. Sinach started singing for family and friends as a hobby in 1989, when she was working as a staff member and choir member at Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s church, Christ Embassy. She went to the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Nigeria, to study physics and got her degree.[26] Pastor Chris Oyakhilome told her not to leave Nigeria after she finished college, even though she thought about it.

Life at home

In 2014, Joseph Egbu and Sinach got married in her home church, Christ Embassy. On November 17, 2019, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome told the crowd at the LIMA Awards that Sinach’s first child, Rhoda, was on the way.

Musical career

Sinach said that when she was a child, she used to think about singing in front of big crowds, but she didn’t do anything about it other than join the choir and work as an administrator in the Church. Before her first record, Chapter One, came out in 2008, Sinach had written a lot of songs. In 2008, her song “This Is Your Season” was named Song of the Year.

When asked where her stage name, Sinach, came from, she said, “I took it from my real name, Osinachi, because it is easy to say and catchy.”

Sinach was the first person to win the LIMA Songwriter of the Decade Award in 2016. This award was given to her for her work in gospel music over the past ten years. Her songs were sung in many places around the world, and they were turned into many languages. She got the African Achievers’ Award for Global Excellence in the same year.[33] In the same year, she won the Western Africa Artist of the Year award from the Groove Awards in Kenya for the second time in a row. She was also named one of the Top 100 Influential Christians in Nigeria by YNaija, along with Chris Oyakhilome and Enoch Adeboye.

Sinach has written more than 200 songs and won several awards for her work. In 2008, her song “This Is Your Season” was named Song of the Year. ‘I Know Who I Am’ is one of her most well-known songs.

Performance

Sinach has been the main act at events in over 50 countries, including Kenya, Dominica, South Africa, the United States, Canada, Antigua & Barbuda, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, Uganda, Barbados, The British Virgin Islands, Zambia, Saint Maarten, the United Kingdom, and India.

Sinach also sang in her home country at an event put on by Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan House on the Rock churches. She also sang at Funke Felix-Adejumo’s yearly Women on the Winning Edge Conference.

In a recent conversation with Pulse Nigeria music writer Motolani Alake, Sinach talked about how God called her to church ministry through Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s anointing.

At the third African Entertainment Awards USA event on December 22, 2020, she won the Best Gospel Artist award.

Awarding and Nomination

2016 Songwriter of the Decade Award from LIMA
Western Africa Artist of the Year at the 2016 Groove Awards

2016 Award for Global Excellence for African Achievers
Top 100 Christians in Nigeria who have a lot of power.
2019 Song of the Year from LIMA
2020: Sinach was named one of the most influential women in Africa.
Song of the Year at the 2020 Dove Awards