Parker Ighile was born in London where he lived with his mother and sister Asabe Ighile. His father and mother are Nigerian, from Benin City and Kaduna, respectively. He began composing and producing at the age of 11 when he and numerous church friends formed a rap group. In his teens made grime music under the name Piztol.[3] The church his family attended was instrumental in Parker's early musical ventures and he studied music in college and university where he began learning music theory. Parker's music is influenced by a dynamic range of genres but more noticeably R&B, rap, garage and Bollywood music – due to frequent exposure to his grandmother's diverse tastes in music and cinema.
Ighile teamed up with music strategist Efe Ogbeni, who was heavily involved in the success of producer RedOne, to help propel him further into the music business.[7] On 15 November 2012, American rapper Nicki Minaj announced that Ighile was signed as the first official artist to her as of yet, unnamed label. She has described his artistry as "lethal and dope".[8] He has since produced Minaj's "Hell Yeah" and Rihanna's "What Now". In late 2012, a song titled "So Beautiful" leaked on the internet, and Ighile announced some weeks later on Twitter that he was working on a mixtape, Young, Dumb & 21, which is set to be released in early 2013 and that "So Beautiful" would act as the first single. Ighile's artistry is usually compared to Sting's and Fela's; and his production to that of Kanye West.
On 22 February 2013, Parker released a music video for his mixtape's leading track, "So Beautiful", onto his official YouTube account. The video is set in black and white, which follows the story of a young couple. He would later release a remix to the song that features Nigerian musician MI Abaga.[9]
Vibe Magazine[10] describes Ighile's sound as Electro-Soul.[11] Ighile defined his sound as Progressive Urban Pop, PUP, sometimes referred to as Progressive Afro Pop, P.A.P during an interview with [Billboard.com]. Speaking about "So Beautiful" Ighile tells Billboard.com, “This song is an introduction to my sound, Progressive Urban Pop (P.U.P) or Progressive Afro Pop (P.A.P).”[12]
Partnership with Samsung Galaxy
Parker Ighile, in collaboration with Quincy Jones and Samsung, produced his own version of "Over the Horizon", the official song of the Samsung Galaxy products. The official song and video performance have been released in August 2013 on the Samsung Galaxy Music website.[13]
Other projects
Among his projects, Parker Ighile is executive producing Australian singer Grace Sewell.
During Summer 2013, Parker Ighile took part of the Quincy Jones 80th Birthday Celebration in Asia with concerts in Korea and Japan.
