Nyashinski belongs to the Kisii tribe and his real name is Nyamari Ongegu. He is married and his wife is called Zia Jepkemei Bett.
Nyamari Ongegu, who performs under the stage name Nyashinski, was born on April 8, 1984. He attended Nairobi School. On April 10, 2019, Nyashinski, whose full birth name was Inyatta Nyamari Ongegu, announced by official announcement that he no longer wanted to use his first name Inyatta and instead only wanted to use Nyamari Ongegu as his official full name.
Nyashinski lived in Kenya until 2006, when he and his family moved to Delaware (USA), where he worked as a truck driver for ten years until he returned to Kenya in 2016 to pursue his music career.
In 2019, Nyashinski tied the knot and married his longtime girlfriend, designer Zia Jepkemei Bett. In 2020, Nyashinski and Zia had their first child.
Nyashinski’s music career began as a member of Kleptomaniax when he was still a high school student at Nairobi School where he met Roba (Robert Manyasa) and Collo (Collins Majale) who formed the music trio Kleptomaniax in 1999. Although the members were still high school students, they released their debut song Freak It under the music label Ogopa DJs in 2002, followed by Maniax Anthem and Haree which became major hits. 2004’s Tuendelee and Swing were the trio’s most popular songs and earned them dozens of awards and nominations. The trio took a break in 2009 to pursue solo careers.
Nyashinski took a ten-year break from music right after his hiatus from Kleptomaniax. He made a comeback in 2016 with the hit “Now you Know” featuring Athman. His 2017 song “Malaika” won a Mdundo Award for the most downloaded male single of 2017.
Throughout his career, Nyanshinski has won numerous awards, including:
2016 – Pulse Music Video Awards
2022 – Himself best legendary artist
He has also been nominated for various awards including:
Best African Act in both 2017 and 2018 at the MTV Africa Music Awards
Best Male Artist in East Africa in 2022 at the All Africa Music Awards
