David Mathenge

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David Mathenge (born August 1976), better known by his stage name Nameless, is a Kenyan pop artist signed to the Ogopa DJ's record label. He rose to fame in 1999 through a star-search contest on Kenya's urban music station 98.4 Capital FM, which he won with his original song "Megarider." The song was about a penniless young man who is trying to seduce a woman but only has enough money for Kenya Bus tickets, and not the rich lifestyle she desires. He later recorded the track with producer Tedd Josiah and it went on to be hot on the charts for weeks. This was the turning point in his musical career. He went on to sign with the Ogopa DJ's label in 2001 and collaborated with artists such as the late E-Sir on "Boomba Train," and Amani on the regional hit "Ninanoki" in 2002 which broke Kenyan chart records by remaining 110 days at number one.

He has gone on to tour across the East African region and in the U.S.A and U.K. In 2004, he released his debut album On Fire, and has since won 3 categories in the 2006 Kisima Music Awards ^[1]. He won the Best East African Single category at the 2007 Tanzania Music Awards (Kilimanjaro Music Awards) with his single Sinzia ^[2].

In 2004, Mathenge married Ogopa DJ's label mate Wahu Kagwe. They have one child, a daughter who was born in 2006. He is also an architect and graduated from the University of Nairobi.

South African pop group Jamali’s wildly popular song "Maisha" was the subject to much scandal. It was alleged that Jamali stole the song from Nameless. However it was settled when Jamali released their CD/DVD of Yours Fatally and credited Nameless as one of the writers of "Maisha".

He was among the controversial list of the 100 most influential Kenyans as selected by The Standard newspaper in August 2007 ^[3]^[4].