Sinach: The Nigerian Worship Leader Behind “Way Maker”

Sinach (born Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu on March 30, 1972, in Lagos, Nigeria) is a Nigerian gospel singer, songwriter, and senior worship leader.

She has written more than 200 songs and is best known for “Way Maker,” a track that has been recorded by over 60 artists, topped Billboard’s Christian Songwriters chart, and won Song of the Year at the 51st GMA Dove Awards, making her the first Nigerian to take home that honor.

She writes and sings in the contemporary gospel and praise-and-worship space, and her songs are sung in churches on nearly every continent.

[IMAGE: Sinach performing live on stage with a worship band]

At a Glance

Early Life and Background

Sinach was born Osinachi Kalu on March 30, 1972, in Lagos. Her family’s roots trace back to Edda, a local government area in Ebonyi State in eastern Nigeria. She’s the second of seven children, and she’s kept her siblings’ names out of the press throughout a career that’s spanned more than three decades.

Music showed up early, but not as a plan. As a child, Sinach says she had dreams of singing in front of large crowds. She didn’t treat that as a career path. Her father wanted something more stable for her, and for a while, she agreed with him. She finished her secondary education and earned a WAEC certificate, then went on to study physics at the University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State.

Church was the constant. Sinach became a staff member and choir participant at Christ Embassy, the Lagos-based church led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, and by 1989 she was singing for family and friends just for the joy of it. That informal habit turned into a calling she couldn’t ignore.

Musical Beginnings and the Call to Worship

After university, Sinach considered leaving Nigeria for better opportunities abroad. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome encouraged her to stay and pursue music instead. She’s credited that conversation as a turning point, and it’s a story she’s told in interviews more than once: he saw something in her voice before she was ready to build a career around it.

She stayed. She kept singing at Christ Embassy gatherings, first locally, then internationally as the church’s reach grew. Her confidence built one service at a time, and she started writing her own songs long before she ever recorded one.

“I chose that from my name Osinachi because it is easy to pronounce and catchy,” Sinach said, explaining how her birth name became her stage name.

Career Journey

Sinach released her debut studio album, Chapter One, in 2007. Her song “This Is Your Season” won Song of the Year in 2008, an early sign that her writing connected outside the walls of her home church. She followed with I’m Blessed in 2010, then a run of live albums through the early 2010s, including From Glory to Glory and Shout It Loud. [IMAGE: Sinach in the recording studio writing lyrics]

Her real breakthrough came with “Way Maker,” released in 2015 and later as a standalone single in 2016. The song built momentum slowly, then exploded. By March 2019, its music video passed 100 million YouTube views, making Sinach the first Nigerian gospel act to hit that number and only the third Nigerian artist overall, behind Davido and Yemi Alade.

“Way Maker” then did something few gospel songs manage. It crossed over. Artists like Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Leeland, Bethel Music, and Mandisa recorded their own versions, and the song has now been covered by more than 60 artists in multiple languages. When COVID-19 lockdowns hit in 2020, “Way Maker” became one of the most streamed and most sung songs in churches worldwide, holding the No. 1 spot on the CCLI Top 100 chart from June through December of that year.

Rise to Prominence

In May 2020, Sinach became the first African artist to top Billboard’s Christian Songwriters chart, and she held that top spot for 11 consecutive weeks, a record for a woman on that chart. She’s the first singer-songwriter of any nationality to lead the chart for 12 weeks running.

The recognition kept building. In 2021, the United States Congress formally recognized her during a US tour. In 2022, she joined the Grammy Recording Academy as a voting member, giving her a direct hand in shaping which gospel and Christian records get nominated each year. In 2023, the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica named her a global ambassador.

By September 2019, she’d already become the first gospel artist from Africa to headline a full tour of India. Since then, she’s performed in more than 50 countries, from Kenya and South Africa to Canada, the UK, Jamaica, and Uganda.

Discography

Beyond “Way Maker,” her most streamed and requested songs include “I Know Who I Am,” “Great Are You Lord,” “Rejoice,” “He Did It Again,” “The Name of Jesus,” “Awesome God,” and “Simply Devoted.”

Personal Life

Sinach married Joseph “Joe” Egbu on June 28, 2014, at her home church, Christ Embassy, in Ikeja, Lagos. Joe Egbu served as a pastor within the Christ Embassy network and has been described in interviews as steady support for her career rather than someone competing with it.

In a 2018 interview with Punch Newspapers, Sinach talked about how her husband handles her success. He’s not the type of man threatened by a wife who fills stadiums, she said, and she called him a gift she doesn’t take for granted.

Their daughter, Rhoda, was born in 2019, five years into the marriage. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome announced the birth publicly at the LIMA Awards on November 17, 2019. Sinach was around 47 at the time, and she’s kept her daughter almost entirely out of the public eye since, sharing only what she chooses to share and no more.

Together, Sinach and her husband launched the Joseph and Sinach Foundation. Its first medical outreach, run with Emzor Pharmaceuticals and the Abia State Government, delivered free healthcare to 700 people.

Faith, Songwriting, and Musical Philosophy

Sinach has said plainly that she writes from what she’s hearing in her own time with God, not from a formula. Her songs read less like performance pieces and more like prayers set to melody, which is likely why they translate so easily into other languages and other church traditions. “Way Maker” itself began as a simple declaration, not a chorus built for radio.

She’s also been direct about where her music belongs. Asked in 2018 whether it bothered her that gospel songs sometimes get played in nightclubs, she said she didn’t mind. If the song carries truth, she reasoned, it can do its work anywhere it’s played.

Influence and Legacy

Few gospel writers of the last decade have shaped congregational singing the way Sinach has. “Way Maker” didn’t just chart. It became a standard, sung in Pentecostal churches, mainline denominations, and stadium worship nights across dozens of countries, often without listeners knowing a Nigerian woman wrote it.

Her influence also runs through the artists she’s inspired to write plainly and sing directly to God rather than at an audience. Younger West African worship leaders point to her catalog as proof that a song written in a Lagos church service can end up sung in a small-town church in Ohio a decade later.

Departure from Christ Embassy

For years, Sinach’s public ministry was tied closely to Christ Embassy and Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, who she’s credited with pushing her toward music in the first place. That changed. By 2025, Sinach, along with fellow gospel artists Frank Edwards, Joe Praize, and Eben, had all exited the church.

Speculation ran for years before Oyakhilome addressed it directly. In a video that circulated in February 2025, he said the departures came down to a shift in focus. He described the church becoming, in his words, more like a party space than a place built around prayer, and said the singers were present to lead worship but gone by the time prayer began. He said he’d tried to get them to change course, and when they didn’t, he let them go.

Reports also point to a more practical thread running underneath that account. As Sinach’s international ministry grew, her presence at Christ Embassy services became less frequent, and that reportedly did not sit well with Oyakhilome. Her appearance at “The Experience,” an interdenominational worship event hosted by Pastor Paul Adefarasin, fed speculation that she’d shifted her church loyalty entirely. Sinach herself has not given a detailed public account of the split, and no reporting suggests the parting was hostile beyond Oyakhilome’s public remarks.

Net Worth

Public estimates of Sinach’s net worth vary widely, from around $500,000 to as high as $5 million, depending on the source. None of these figures come from an official statement or audited disclosure, and Sinach has not confirmed a number publicly. What’s verifiable is where her income likely comes from: album and streaming royalties, “Way Maker” licensing across dozens of cover versions, ticketed concerts in more than 50 countries, and songwriting credits on tracks recorded by other artists.

Awards and Recognition

• 2008: Song of the Year, “This Is Your Season”
• 2016: LIMA Songwriter of the Decade Award
• 2016: Groove Awards, Western Africa Artist of the Year
• 2016: African Achievers’ Award for Global Excellence
• 2017: Bethlehem Hall of Faith Certificate of Commemoration
• 2019: LIMA Song of the Year
• 2020: GMA Dove Award, Song of the Year, “Way Maker”
• 2020: Africa Entertainment Awards USA, Best Gospel Artist
• 2021: BMI Song of the Year; recognized by the US Congress
• 2022: ABGMA International Artist of the Decade and Song of the Decade
• 2022: Voting member, Grammy Recording Academy
• 2023: Global Ambassador, Commonwealth of Dominica

Interesting Facts

• Her stage name is simply a shortened, easier-to-pronounce version of her birth name, Osinachi.
• “Way Maker” is the second most-watched Nigerian music video on YouTube.
• She studied physics, not music, and finished a full science degree before writing her first album.
• She’s a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy, giving her input on nominations across genres, not just gospel.
• She released a new studio album, Enough for Me, in January 2026, decades into her career.

Timeline

• 1972: Born Osinachi Kalu in Lagos, Nigeria.
• 1989: Starts singing informally while working on staff at Christ Embassy.
• 2007: Releases debut album, Chapter One.
• 2008: “This Is Your Season” wins Song of the Year.
• 2014: Marries Joseph Egbu at Christ Embassy, Lagos.
• 2015-2016: Releases “Way Maker.”
• 2019: “Way Maker” passes 100 million YouTube views; daughter Rhoda is born.
• 2020: Tops Billboard Christian Songwriters chart; wins GMA Dove Award.
• 2022: Becomes a Grammy Recording Academy voting member.
• 2023: Named Global Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
• 2025: Departs Christ Embassy, along with Frank Edwards, Joe Praize, and Eben.
• 2026: Releases studio album Enough for Me; continues international touring.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Sinach leave Pastor Chris?

Yes. By 2025, Sinach had exited Christ Embassy, the church led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome where she began her music ministry. Oyakhilome publicly addressed the exit in February 2025, saying it came down to a shift away from the church’s focus on prayer.

Is Sinach still alive?

Yes. Sinach remains active, with a new studio album released in January 2026 and international concert dates scheduled through the year.

Is Sinach still married?

Yes. She married Joseph Egbu in 2014, and public reporting gives no indication the marriage has ended.

Who is Sinach’s husband?

Her husband is Joseph “Joe” Egbu, a pastor connected to the Christ Embassy network. He’s known publicly mainly through his marriage to Sinach and their joint charitable foundation.

Does Sinach have a child?

Yes, one daughter, Rhoda, born in November 2019.

At what age did Sinach give birth to her first child?

She was around 47 when Rhoda was born, five years into her marriage.

At what age did Sinach get married?

She married Joseph Egbu in June 2014, at around 42 years old.

How old is Sinach?

Sinach was born on March 30, 1972, making her 54 as of 2026.

Sources

This biography draws on Wikipedia’s Sinach entry, Sinach’s official biography at sinachmusic.com, and reporting from Punch Newspapers, Vanguard, BusinessDay Nigeria, Daily Post Nigeria, Kemi Filani, and Pulse Nigeria, among others cited throughout.