Omar Apollo | |
Number of songs: 1 | Total weeks on charts: 9
Appearing in a total number of: 6 charts | Total period running: 21 days
Appearing in a total number of: 6 charts | Total period running: 21 days
Songs by Omar Apollo
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Biography
Omar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer and songwriter. Apollo sings in both English and Spanish. He has released one studio album, two extended plays, and one mixtape.
Born to Mexican parents, Apollo grew up in Hobart, Indiana with his three older siblings. Apollo's parents both worked multiple jobs to support the family. His family is from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. He danced ballet folklorico when he was a child. He was also a part of his Catholic church choir. At his request, Apollo's parents bought him a guitar when he was 12; however, it was an electric guitar without an amp. Apollo traded the guitar at a pawn shop for an acoustic guitar and started learning how to play by watching and mimicking YouTube cover videos. Apollo was also taught by his uncle and practiced playing at church. He would go on to form a short-lived band with a friend at church.
Apollo's music has primarily been described as alternative R&B-pop, with elements of latin music, trap, and funk.
Growing up, he listened to his parents' favorite musicians such as Pedro Infante, Los Panchos and the Beatles. His own influences include diverse musicians such as Neil Young, Paul Simon, John Mayer, Prince, Bootsy Collins, Rick James, and the Internet.
When speaking to Billboard, Apollo listed Minnie Riperton's Perfect Angel, Whitney Houston's self-titled project, Nirvana's Nevermind, Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill as inspiration for his musical career.
Apollo started his career by creating and uploading his songs to the DIY streaming platform SoundCloud. During this time, he worked at Jimmy John's and Guitar Center and lived in an attic. In 2017, using $30 borrowed from a friend, he uploaded his song "Ugotme" to Spotify, where it was soon playlisted on the platform's Fresh Finds and racked up 20,000 streams in a day. A year later, the song would cross more than 15 million streams.
He released his first EP, Stereo in 2018, which was similarly well received. In 2018 and 2019 he went on two tours, the "Want Tour" and the "Voyager Tour". During the 32-date "Voyager Tour" he released his second EP, Friends in April 2019. The EP featured production by rock producer John Shanks, who had previously worked with artists such as Michelle Branch and Melissa Etheridge. Apollo is managed by Shanks' son, Dylan, who he met over Twitter in July 2017 when the latter booked Apollo for a university show at NYU. Apollo signed with Artists Without A Label earlier that year and performed at SXSW as part of a showcase with the group. He went on his first European tour in 2019 as well, and played at Lollapalooza and Tropic�lia. In late 2019, Apollo released the singles, "Fr�o" and "Hit Me Up", both collaborations with producer Kenny Beats. In April 2020, Apollo released the single "Imagine U", another collaboration with Kenny Beats.
On August 7, 2020, Apollo released the lead single "Stayback" from his debut mixtape. On September 10, he released the second single "Kamikaze". On September 25, Apollo appeared on alternative R&B Japanese singer Joji�s second album Nectar on the track �High Hopes". Apollo then released two more singles "Dos Uno Nueve (219)" and �Want U Around" (featuring Ruel) before releasing his first mixtape, Apolonio on October 16, 2020.
Apollo was featured in a song called "Te olvidaste" by Spanish artist C. Tangana on his 2021 album El Madrile�o. The song received two Latin Grammy Awards nominations for Record of the Year and Best Alternative Song.
In 2021, Apollo released the single "Go Away", including a music video and a live performance on The Tonight Show. He later followed up with the single "Bad Life", featuring Kali Uchis, making it the second time they collaborate since the track "Hey Boy" from Apolonio. In February 2022, Apollo released the single "Invincible" featuring Daniel Caesar and announced the release date for his debut album. The following month he released the singles "Killing Me", which included a live performance on The Tonight Show, and �Tamagotchi". The former being co-written and produced by The Neptunes. With the release of �Tamagotchi�, Apple Music Up Next selected Omar Apollo as its featured artist for the month of April 2022.
Apollo released his debut studio album Ivory in April and also embarked on the Desvelado tour to support the album. The album received mostly positive reviews with praises going towards Apollo's musical growth and vocal performance. It entered the Billboard 200 chart, marking his first-ever entry on the chart. The deluxe version of the album, titled Ivory (Marfil), was released on August 12, 2022. In September 2022, Apollo earned his first-ever Billboard Hot 100 entry with "Evergreen", debuting at number 62 for the week ending of October 1, 2022.
As well as his solo tours, Apollo also performed at the Coachella, Something In The Water and All Points East music festivals in 2022.
Apollo is openly gay. In an interview with NPR, Apollo discussed the labelling of his sexuality, saying "I feel like in the beginning, I was trying to be mysterious and stuff, but now I'm just like - I'm very gay, so I'm just like, whatever."
Sources: Wikipedia, Top40-Charts.com Editorial team
Omar Apollo in the news
