Muyiwa Olarewaju

As a broadcaster Muyiwa has presented on Premier Radio's flagship programmes Gospel Tonight and Worship Tonight. Muyiwa has also held the position of station director of Premier Gospel,^[5] the number-one Gospel music station in the UK, boasting a listenership of 180,000 a month.

Muyiwa is the Host of the Turning Point television show, a programme with a global audience reach of 70 million.^[7][8]

Muyiwa has appeared as a celebrity judge for five seasons on the BBC Songs of Praise, Gospel Choir of the Year Competition.^[1]

Born in London, he lived for the first few years of his life in Nigeria^[8] with his headmaster father and his radio broadcaster mother.^{[citation needed]} When he was nine, he and his brothers and sisters were sent to live with a series of friends and family in London, so that they could receive a better education. The first place he lived was Stamford Hill, with an uncle.^{[citation needed]}

Living a more settled life with his older sister in a council flat in Forest Gate, he taught himself piano. He left Brixton's Archbishop Tennyson School in 1988, then took a BTEC National Diploma in Business and Finance. He proceeded to take an HND in Business Studies at East London University and a Music Degree at Westminster University.^{[citation needed]}

Muyiwa is the Leader of Riversongz. As a collective they have toured with Stevie Wonder^[7] and individually have worked with Emelie Sandy, Pixie Lot and Amy Winehouse. Muyiwa & Riversongz were the first international artists to appear on the American BET channel at the annual "Celebration of Gospel" in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Muyiwa & Riversongz have released five albums — Restoration (2003); Declaring His Power (2005), recorded at the Liverpool Lighthouse Liverpool Lighthouse, the UK's first dedicated Urban Gospel arts centre; Declaring His Love (2008), recorded at the Ocean music venue in Hackney (now picture house), the album staying at number 1 on HMV's Jazz & Blues chart for five months; Live at the O2 (2010) as the first UK gospel group to sell out the Indigo 2 venue; and Declaring His Name All Around The World (2012).^{[citation needed]}

The Eko Ile Album released in 2015 was produced by the Ghanaian musician, guitarist, keyboardist, producer, recording- engineer and multi-instrumentalist. Kwame Yeboah. Recorded mostly at the Mixstation studios in Accra Ghana and the rest in Riversongz Studios in London.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017 Muyiwa released the No One Like you album a compilation of already released songs with a special composition featuring philanthropist and pastor Reverend Mother Esther Abimbola Ajayi.^{[citation needed]}

Olarewaju was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music.^[9]

Albums:

• Muyiwa & Riversongz: Live at the Apollo (2012): a CD and DVD project recorded live before a sold-out audience at London's prestigious Eventim Apollo.
• Declaring His Name All Around the World (2011): the first studio album from Muyiwa & Riversongz, produced by the Grammy Award-winning Kevin Bond, hit No. 5 on Amazon's World Music Charts.
• Declaring His Love (2008): recorded Live in London in 2007 at the Ocean Hackney to a sold-out audience, Declaring His Love reached No. 1 on the HMV Jazz & Blues Charts and remained there for five months. The release of the project was followed by a 10-city sold-out UK tour.
• Declaring His Power (2005): Recorded live in Andfield at the Liverpool Football Grounds, this album release licensed to Kingsway Music was followed by a SOLD OUT ten city UK tour.
• Restoration (2002): Muyiwa & Riversongz's debut album restoration, recorded in 2002 before a live audience in London, England. It featured an all-star band including Steve Turner, (Kylie Minogue), Andrew Smith MD (West Life), Chris Brown (Kylie Minogue) and Julian Brown (Jason Donovan).
• Eko Ile (2015)
• No One Like You (2017)

Live DVDs

• Muyiwa & Riversongz: Live at the Apollo (2012)
• Declaring His Love (2008)
• Declaring His Power (2005)
• Restoration (2002)

Awards

• British Black Gospel