Nagi Jamal Omar (born 16 December 1986), better known as simply Nano, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He first came to prominence while competing in

Melodifestivalen 2017 Melodifestivalen 2017 was the 57th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which selected Sweden's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition was organised by Sveriges Television (SVT) and took place over a six ...

Life and career

Early life and personal life

Omar was born on 16 December 1986 in Tumba,

Botkyrka Botkyrka Municipality ( ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden, not far from the capital Stockholm. Its seat is located in the town of Tumba. In 1971 ''Grödinge'' was merged with Botkyrka and in 1974 ''Salem'' was add ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. His father is

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

, while his mother is from

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

. At age 12, he moved to a foster home in

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. When his mother visited him for the first time since moving in, she gave him a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, which influenced his decision to focus on music. He was arrested at age 18, and went to jail. When he was 21, he ended up in jail once again and thereafter was also informed that his girlfriend was pregnant with their child; Because of this, he decided to focus on his family and resume his musical career. He currently lives with his partner and four children in

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Södermanland and Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. As of 2017, it has 72,704 inhabitants. Södertälje is located at Mälarens confluence in to the Baltic Sea ...

2015–present: Career breakthrough and ''Melodifestivalen 2017''

In the spring of 2015, he released his debut single "Lion". In 2017, he began competing in ''

'', the Swedish national selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2017 The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...

with the song "

Hold On Hold On may refer to: Music Albums and EPs * ''Hold On!'' (album), by Herman's Hermits, 1966 * ''Hold On'' (Trapeze album), or the title song, 1978 * ''Hold On'' (High Inergy album), 1980 * ''Hold On'' (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album), 1987 * ...

". He progressed directly to the final from the first-semi-final. In the final he placed second overall, being the winner of the televoting and second in the jury voting. He participated in

Melodifestivalen 2019 Melodifestivalen 2019 was the 59th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen and was held between 2 February 2019 and 9 March 2019. Presenters were Sarah Dawn Finer, Kodjo Akolor, Marika Carlsson and Eric Saade. Edward af Sillé ...

with the song "Chasing Rivers".

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omar, Nano 1986 births Living people People from Tumba, Sweden Melodifestivalen contestants People from Gotland Swedish pop singers English-language singers from Sweden Swedish people of Palestinian descent Swedish people of Finnish descent 21st-century Swedish singers 21st-century Swedish male singers