b. Omari Ishmael Grandberry, 12 November 1984, Inglewood, California, USA. Vocalist Omarion launched his solo career at the start of 2004 following the surprise break-up of his former group, the highly successful R&B boy band B2K. His solo work followed the direction of B2K’s US number 1 hit ‘Bump, Bump, Bump’, a raunchy collaboration with P. Diddy written by R. Kelly. Leading producers and songwriters including the Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins were brought in to beef up the sound on his debut O. The Underdogs-produced title track was a US Top 20 hit at the start of 2005, paving the way for the album to make its debut at the top of the US charts. During recording sessions for his debut album Omarion also found the time to appear as Reggie in Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert. He had made his acting debut earlier in 2004 alongside the rest of B2K in their lamentable ‘street dancing’ movie, You Got Served.
The singer’s second album featured writing and production from Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Bryan Michael Cox and Andre Merritt. 21 received excellent reviews when it was released at the end of 2006, and followed its predecessor to the top of the US album chart. The following year, Omarion appeared in the Jennifer Lopez -produced movie Feel The Noise and released a collaborative album with rapper Bow Wow.
