Ndidi O

Ndidi Onukwulu, (pronounced In-DEE-dee On-OOK-whoo-loo) professionally known as Ndidi O, is an award-winning Contemporary Roots & Blues singer-songwriter.

A force of nature from the wilds of British Columbia where she grew up, Ndidi is the daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother. She represents a distinctly Canadian experience – standing astride lines blurred between contrasting cultures and heritages. Once she discovered her voice and collected a diverse range of sounds and styles, her talents took her away from home to New York City, Toronto, Paris and Los Angeles. Her music, like her lineage, explores the globe while keeping ‘home’ at the centre of it all. 

Through her singing, Ndidi invites us into a musical universe filled with waves of blues, folk, rock, Americana, and country that results in a journey that starts and ends in the soul. Her voice and her music feel like old friends. She is truly her own creature. As varied as her influences may be, they culminate in an expression of the blues that is undoubtedly Ndidi.

Onukwulu was one of the star-power females featured in the documentary Play Your Gender produced and hosted by award-winning B.C. rapper-singer-poet Kinnie Starr. It is a long, hard look at the male dominance of the music business. “For women in the music industry, it’s been a lot rougher on us than most people realize,” Onukwulu said. “People don’t want to hear a grown woman talk about grown woman things, and when they do, it’s got to be coloured with all kinds of slang and what-have-you. I don’t adhere to it at all.”

You can hear Ndidi O songs featured in numerous television programs and commercial campaigns such as for GAP, Orange is the New Black, CW’s The Flash, Hulu’s Cloak & Dagger and most recently Netflix’s “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C.J Walker” starring Octavia Spencer.

In addition to her solo career, Ndidi O continues working on new music with her trip-hop duo BOGA (alongside ​​Mischa Chillak) and with The Blue And Gold – her collaboration with multi-instrumental singer-songwriter Trish Klein (Be Good Tanyas).

Ndidi now divides her time between Vancouver and Ireland.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

2019 Western Canadian Music Awards winner Blues Artist of the Year
2015 JUNO award nominee Adult Contemporary Album of the Year (Dark Swing)
2009 JUNO award nominee Best Solo Roots & Traditional Album of the Year (The Contradictor)
2007 Maple Blues Award winner New Artist of the Year

DISCOGRAPHY

2024 Simple Songs for Complicated Times (April 2024)
2018 These Days
2013 Dark Swing
2011 The Escape
2009 Move Together
2008 The Contradictor
2006 No, I Never