Long before Young Jonn was headlining his own tours, he was a producer credit. His name sat on some of the biggest Nigerian songs of the 2010s, often without listeners knowing much about the man behind it. Today he is a Chocolate City headliner with two albums and a new EP, Dear London. This is how he got from one side of the mixing desk to the other.
Ibadan beginnings
Young Jonn was born John Saviours Udomboso on 16 February 1995 in Ibadan, into a Christian family with roots in Akwa Ibom. He went to Ideal Foundation Primary School in Ibadan and GOF College in Osogbo, where he played basketball and football and spent time on instruments, miming and dance.
He started playing instruments as a child, and he formed a group called AVG with his brothers. He later studied Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan.
The Hit Factory years
In 2012 he signed to Hit Factory Studio as a producer, and his name soon started showing up on major records. He produced Olamide’s “Story For The Gods”, which went on to top the charts, and Olamide’s “Bobo”. He worked on Lil Kesh’s “Gbese” and “Efejoku”, and Davido’s “Biggest Backside”.
His album credits from that period include Davido’s The Baddest, 2 Kings by Olamide and Phyno, and Olamide’s Eyan Mayweather. He was closely linked to Olamide’s YBNL circle.
The recognition followed. “Bobo” earned him a Producer of the Year nomination at The Headies in 2015, and he was nominated in the same category at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards that year. The NET ranked him number three on its list of Nigeria’s seven biggest music producers.
Stepping to the front: Chocolate City
Plenty of producers try to become artists. Few make it stick. Young Jonn’s move came in 2022, when he signed with Chocolate City and released “Dada”, from his first EP, Love Is Not Enough. The remix with Davido pushed it further.
Love Is Not Enough, Vol. 2 came in October 2022, and its single “Xtra Cool” became his highest-charting song at the time. It reached number one on the TurnTable radio chart and peaked at number two on the TurnTable Top 100, which at the time made it the highest-charting single Chocolate City had ever released.
Other singles followed through 2023, including “Aquafina”, “Sharpally”, “Disconnect” and “Go Hard”. In 2024 he joined Kizz Daniel and Seyi Vibez on “Big Big Things”. He had already appeared on Seyi Vibez’s 2023 album Vibe Till Thy Kingdom Come.
Jiggy Forever
His debut album, Jiggy Forever, came out on 12 April 2024. It had 16 tracks, with Kizz Daniel, Seyi Vibez, Don Jazzy, Zlatan, Blaqbonez, Sean Paul and Ya Levis on it.
For a producer, the credits are the interesting part. Production was spread across a long list of names, including P.Priime, ePianoh, Telz, BabyBeatz and Magicsticks. The man who built his reputation behind the boards was now working with other producers on his own songs.
He has said the album was made without a plan. He recorded songs first, then picked the ones that carried the feeling he wanted. He described the “Jiggy Era” as a lifestyle of “staying fresh, staying fly, staying above all of the noise.” The most personal song is “Stronger”, about the loss of his mother. “I wasn’t planning on recording this type of song,” he said. “But when I started recording, I knew that I had to see it through because it was bigger than me.”
He took the album on a North American tour, with stops in Montreal, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Oakland and Los Angeles, among others.
Blue Disco
His second album, Blue Disco, arrived in November 2025 and went much bigger. It had 21 tracks and a guest list that included Wizkid, Olamide, Asake, Rema, Focalistic, Shenseea and DJ Tunez. The singles leading into it included “Only Fans”, “Che Che” with Asake and “Cashflow” with Wizkid.
It debuted at number one on the Apple Music Nigeria albums chart. For someone who spent years making hits for other artists, having his own album top the chart marked a real turning point.
Dear London
Then he went small. Dear London, released on 25 September 2026, is a seven-track EP with no guests at all. It runs just over 18 minutes. “Elumelu”, released on 29 May and named after the businessman Tony Elumelu, is an upbeat song about money and ambition. “Hold Somebody” followed in September. Both sit in the middle of the EP.
After the crowded guest list on Blue Disco, a short solo record feels like a statement. The producer who once built songs for Olamide and Davido no longer needs anyone else on his.
Browse all of Young Jonn’s albums and EPs on his AfroYard artist page, with previews of every track.
