Omar – the French connection

Now on his fifth album - the aptly tagged 'Best By Far' - the richly talented singer/writer/musician has elected to put at least most of his oeufs into a French basket in pursuit of global acceptance. Pete Lewis, he say out!

"The things is, it was Erykah who originally called me about us doing a track together. And now her record company is saying I can't use her vocal on my album because it'll clash with the release of hers! So I'm just gonna look for someone else to do the track. You know, if someone puts an obstacle in your way you go round it. You don't stand there fighting with it!

It's Tuesday, September 26 and a frustrated Omar sits in a West End bar revealing how – as later reported in B&S 826 – on the eve of release of his fifth album ‘Best By Far’, Motown records have suddenly and forcefully instructed him to remove Erykah Badu’s vocals from his cover of Wililam DeVaughn’s evergreen ‘Be Thankful For What You Got’ which the two had recorded as a duo. Meanwhile, two weeks later and a considerably happier Omar is back in touch. He's since recorded the song with Angie Stone but Motown have now had a change of heart. Meaning not only that the duet with Erykah will be going on the album after all but now has not one, but two, superb versions of the song. "Well, I said I'd deal with the matter accordingly. And, while I don't know all the ins and out of what exactly changed Motown's mind, all I know if that I now have two beautiful duets with two different, but splendid vocalists...which makes me very happy! Even though at this stage we don't know exactly when and how we'll be using Angie's version."

So what in general can we expect from 'Best By Far' which - pioneered by the breezily uptempo new single 'Something Real' - also contains a funky duet with London soul girl Kele Le Roc ('Come On') and marks Omar's first album for French independent label Naive (British release via Oyster Music)? "Well, you know my style. It's really just an extension of that," he explains. "The only difference is that this time - because I spent so much time in America recording my last two albums (1994s For Pleasure and 1997s This Is Not A Love Song) with other people 0- I just felt I wanted to get back to London and do something close to home and in my own environment. I mean, I'd left my last record company (RCA) and Naive was my fourth record label. I wanted to make sure everything sounded exactly as I wanted it to sound. Plus, if I was now making all the decisions and taking complete artistic control, then at the end of the day if it's a flop I would know it was me who's been wrong all these years - and not the record companies!"

Interestingly, the album was recorded in a tiny studio in Chelsea over the last year. "Part of the problem I had with the last two albums was that I was given leeway to use big budgets and big studios. Whereas I find that, if you starve yourself of all those luxuries a bit, then you start using rough 'n ready techniques that give your album a bit more edge", continues the man many regard as the uncrowned king of British Soul. "A friend of mine had built this little studio called Wendy House, which I really liked the look of, it. it was a small place...nice and cosy and not too far from where I was living and reasonably priced for what I wanted to do. So I thought the studio was just a perfect place for me to get a vibe from. Plus, I could smoke as much weed as I wanted to!"

In addition to his own distinct musical style (he plays practically everything on 'Best By Far'), Omar is unique in that he is the only UK artist to have been unanimously acclaimed by an entire generation of Black American acts. Yet, despite the heroes of the then-emerging 'Nu-Classic Soul' generation - Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Maxwell and Eric Benet included - all singing his praises, Omar's last album unbelievably failed to even secure a US release, which resulted in an inevitable parting of the ways between Omar and his then-record company, RCA. "Basically I wasn't getting the kind of marketing or promotion I felt I was deserving of in America", he retorts. "I mean, with all those artists quoting my name, they still didn't wanna release the music over there! Which to me meant there was a obviously someone higher up in the company that didn’t get what I was doing. Which is the problem I've always had over there. So it was either a case of trying to fight it all again - like I'd done with my previous label Talkin' Loud - or just move on and move off, 'cause I know it's not me. I f I can walk down the street in any country and have people stop and tell me how much they respect the music, then I know I must be doing something right!"

So how has Omar ended up with a French label this time round? "Well, France seemed an obvious option, particularly when the cosmopolitan feel my music has always had to me has a kind of Parisian vibe to it anyway", he says. "Plus, just like my dad's label (the Harlesden-based Kongo Dance, for whom Omar in 1990 released his classic street soul anthem 'There's Nothing Like This'),. Naive is independent. Basically it's four guys at the top of their field from other record companies - where they were MDs or A&Rs - that have come together to make their own label. So I feel like I'm part of the birth of a new company starting out. They're fresh, eager, full of enthusiasm...which is exactly what I needed."

So what are the plans this time around for American, which, after all, remains Omar's biggest potential markets? "Well, right now we're using naive to search that out. It's really just a case of finding the right one, because I've been duped into it before where the Americans come over here and are like 'Yeah, we love your stuff'...and then, soon as I get out there, they wanna change it or they can't deal with what I’m dong! So, you know, I have to be careful about what I'm picking. I know I've got a fan base pretty much worldwide now. So it's really just a case of capitalising on that and just gettin' on with it, you know what I mean?"

The single 'Something Real' is release on 23 October. The album 'Best By Far' is release on 13 November, both through Oyster Music.