Biography
Tsogunwa David Oteri (T.D. Oteri) is a Christian songwriter, producer and artist currently based in Lagos, Nigeria. Blessed by God with a unique style that cuts across various contemporary genres, characterized by melodic string instruments, keyboards, synths, alongside vocal harmonies that usually crescendo.
He is an ardent student of God’s word, whose songs are inspired by and show forth ” the new creation realities" with the aim of edifying, exhorting and comforting the hearer while giving thanks to our Great God, as is written in Colossians 3:16 KJV
“ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord”.
Born to a family with an eclectic music taste, he was exposed to and loved various genres of music from childhood, becoming a huge fan of Hip Hop music in the 80s and 90s alongside Rock, Pop, Country, Techno and Reggae.
He received a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Benin, Edo State in the year 2000, gave his life to Christ the following year and received the Holy Spirit shortly afterwards.
This is when his personal music journey started. Having great hunger for the word, he grew in the knowledge of God and also began to regularly have experiences where new melodies and lyrics would well up in his spirit with visions of him ministering them at the set time.
Music played a major role (then and now) in his personal walk with the Lord, being greatly inspired by gospel artists and groups skilled at blending vocals with harmony and rich instrumentation for their songs, such as Hillsong Worship, Kirk Franklin, Hezekiah Walker, John P. Kee, Donald Lawrence, Donnie McClurkin and Richard Smallwood to mention a few.
Growing in grace and knowledge he became a leader (Church and Choir) in the Northern Nigeria Zone of the Believers Loveworld at the time and was eventually ordained a Pastor in 2008, where he served for almost a decade while also working and running a business as an IT professional.
Taking steps in line with fulfilling the music visions, he relocated to Lagos in 2019.
