Michael Collins Ajereh professionally known as Don Jazzy or Don Baba is a Nigerian record producer, songwriter, and musician.
Gatekeepers News reports that Don Jazzy, the founder and the CEO of Mavin Records, was co-owner of the now-defunct Mo’ Hits Records record label with D’banj.
Early Career
Don Jazzy was born in Umuahia, Abia State, Southeast Nigeria on 26 November 1982. His father, Collins Enebeli Ajereh is from Isoko in Delta State; while his mother, Mrs Ajereh was an Igbo princess from Abia state.
Don Jazzy was later raised in Ajegunle, Lagos State. He attended the co-educational high school, Federal Government College Lagos. He found an interest in music early in life and at age 12, when he began to play the bass guitar and piano. Don Jazzy also gained knowledge of traditional and percussion instruments. He is an alumnus of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state.
Early Life
In 2000, Jazzy’s uncle invited him to play the drums for a local church in London and that was his first visit to London. He continued his interest in music, associating with Solek, JJC Skillz, Kas, Jesse Jagz, The 419 Squad and D’Banj.
In 2004, Don Jazzy collaborated with D’Banj to form Mo’ Hits Records. In the next two years, Don Jazzy produced the albums No Long Thing and Rundown/Funk You Up.
In 2008, Don Jazzy was credited in the production of The Entertainer by D’Banj. He also contributed to the production of Wande Coal’s Mushin 2 MoHits, an album that was described as one of the best albums to ever come out of Nigeria.
In 2011, Kanye West employed Don Jazzy as a producer at Very Good Beatz. Don Jazzy worked with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the production of Lift Off, featuring Beyoncé on the album Watch The Throne which was released on 8 August 2011.
In March 2012, Don Jazzy and D’Banj confirmed their breakup citing artistic differences. A few months later, Don Jazzy announced a new record label, Mavin Records. He said, “I see Mavin Records being the power house of music in Africa in the shortest possible time.”
On 8 May 2012, he released an album featuring the artists signed to his label. The songs on the album included: “Amarachi”, “Forever”, “Oma Ga”, “Take Banana and Chocolate”, “YOLO” and the anthem “I’m a MAVIN”. Mavin Records signed the vocalist, Tiwa Savage. Don Jazzy built a social network platform called “Marvin League” to complement and market his label.
MAVIN has since been bedrock of rising stars in the Nigeria music industry. Artiste that have passed through the record label or are still in the record label include Reekado Banks, Di’Ja, Korede Bello, Rema, Ayra Star, Magixx, Boy Spyce, and Johnny Drille amongst others.
Don Jazzy has received several awards including Nigerian Music Awards (2006) – Producer of the Year; Nigerian Entertainment Awards (2007) – Music Producer of the Year; The Headies 2011 – Producer of the Year for Over The Moon, Mr Endowed and Pop Something; The Headies 2014 – Producer of the Year for Dorobucci; City People Entertainment Award (2015) – special recognition award; and The Beatz Award TM (2019) – New Discovery Producer.
Personal Life
In 2003, Don Jazzy married Michelle Jackson. According to him, they both had issues as a result of his ambitious nature and subsequently divorced about two years after they wed.
In July 2022, Don Jazzy announced the death of his mother via his Instagram page.
Net Worth
According to reports, Don Jazzy has a net worth of over $10 million.
