Omar Christopher Lye-Fook
MBE (born 14 October 1968), known professionally as Omar, is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He grew up in
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and learned his craft classically, playing the trumpet, piano and percussion. He also spent two years at
Chetham's School of Music
Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education a ...
in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and the
Guildhall School of Music in London. His most well-known song was his debut single "
There's Nothing Like This".
It reached number 14 in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on re-release in 1991.
In 2022, he appeared in ''
EastEnders'' as
Avery Baker.
Career
Following his first two
single releases, "Mr Postman" (1985) and "You and Me" (1988) featuring backing vocals from
Caron Wheeler, Omar released his debut
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...
, ''
There's Nothing Like This'' in 1990. Initially released on his father's
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
, Kongo Records, it entered the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
, peaking at No. 54.
Signing to his first major record label
Talkin' Loud
Talkin' Loud was a record label, originally founded by Gilles Peterson in 1990 after he left Acid Jazz Records. The label name is based on Peterson's Dingwalls club night "Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Something", itself a reference to James Brown and ...
saw the re-release of his debut album, which climbed to No. 19 in the UK Albums Chart. This was followed in 1992 by his second album, ''Music'', which proved less successful than the first, peaking at No. 37.
A new signing to
RCA Records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...
led to Omar undertaking collaborations with other musicians, including
Lamont Dozier
Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He co-wrote and produced 14 US ''Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK.
Career
Doz ...
,
David Frank (
The System), the former
Heatwave
A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in th ...
bassist Derrick Bramble,
Leon Ware
Leon Ware (February 16, 1940 – February 23, 2017) was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy ...
and
Stevie Wonder.
In 1996, Omar contributed "
Water to Drink" to the
AIDS benefit album, ''
Red Hot + Rio
''Red Hot + Rio'' is a compilation album produced by Béco Dranoff and Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the bossa nova sound, especially the mus ...
'', produced by the
Red Hot Organization.
In 2003, after one of his songs ("
There's Nothing Like This") was used in the intro round on ''
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first hos ...
'', presenter
Mark Lamarr questioned Omar's supposed instant recognisability, quipping that he would require a
Blockbuster
Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to:
*Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived.
Corporations
* Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain
** Bl ...
card to confirm Omar's identity. Omar's agent e-mailed the show and a few episodes later, Omar appeared in the show's 'identity parade' round, Blockbuster card in hand. Lamarr was forced to concede that Omar was both immediately recognisable, and a rather more significant artist than he had earlier given him credit for. In 2006, the
Urban Music Awards
The Urban Music Awards (UMA) is a hip-hop, R&B, dance, and soul music awards ceremony which was launched by Jordan Kensington in 2003 and is now held in several countries.
The US version of the award ceremony, the Urban Music Awards USA, was ...
presented Omar with the Best Neo Soul Act and Outstanding Achievement Awards.
After studying at the Identity Drama School, on 11 June 2009, Omar made his acting debut in
Ché Walker's
musical, ''
Been So Long''. He was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to music. During July and August 2015, Omar appeared as part of the house band in the
BBC Two comedy series ''
The Javone Prince Show''. In June 2017, Omar was one of the "Artists for Grenfell" who performed the number one charity single
"Bridge over Troubled Water", in aid of victims of the
Grenfell Tower fire.
In January 2022, Omar contributed vocals to Berlin-based artist
Le Commandant Couche-Tôt's track "L'été indien". In 2022, Omar was cast in the role of
Avery Baker in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Omar is sometimes credited as Omar Hammer. His birth father's surname is Lye-Fook, while his stepfather's surname is Hammer.
He and his siblings, two brothers and a sister, are all musicians. Samia Lye-Fook, Omar's sister, and youngest of the four, has provided
for some of Omar's recordings. Omar became the father of twin daughters in early 2008.