Ayọ - Down On My Knees

Artist: Ayọ Song: Down On My Knees Album: Joyfull [2007] Genre: Soul, Reggae Bio: Ayọ (born as Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin on 14 September 1980 near Cologne, Germany) is an Afro-German singer-songwriter. She uses the Yoruba translation Ayọ or Ayo. of her first name Joy. The name has to be written with a dot below or behind the o without it, it would mean onion in Yoruba language and/or refer to a pitted board game[1] popular among the Yorubas. Her debut album Joyful, which was first released in 2006, reached Double-Platinum status in France, Platinum in Germany and Poland, Gold status in Switzerland and Italy. The album was released in the United States on 20 November 2007 by Interscope Records. She has a son Nile, who was born in late 2005 with her boyfriend the Afro-German reggae singer Patrice. End of 2007 she moved with her family to the West Village, Manhattan, New York City. Biography Early years Ayọ was born as fourth child to her Nigerian father and Romani mother from Romania in Germany but lived as a baby for a short time in Nigeria. She has one sister and two brothers. When she was about six years old her mother became addicted to heroin and spent some time in jail. After her parents divorced she and two of her siblings spent periods of time in care and with foster families. When she was fourteen she was considered old enough by the authorities to live again with her father.