VELASCO
Omar
(Omar
Apollo)

• 1. Career

Omar Apolonio Velasco, known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. After signing a record deal with Warner Records, his debut album, Ivory, was released in 2022 to positive reviews and earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards. Apollo sings in both English and Spanish.

Career

Apollo created and uploaded his songs to SoundCloud, a platform with DIY streaming. At the time he worked at Jimmy John's and Guitar Center, and he lived in an attic. In 2017, using $30 borrowed from a friend, he uploaded his song "Ugotme" to Spotify, where it was soon added to the platform's Fresh Finds and racked up 20,000 streams in a day. A year later, the song had more than 15 million streams.

He released his first EP, Stereo, in 2018, which was similarly well received. In 2018 and 2019, Apollo went on two tours, the "Want Tour" and the "Voyager Tour." His second EP, Friends, was released 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, whom 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 a European tour in 2019 and played at Lollapalooza as well as Tropicália. In late 2019, Apollo released the singles, "Frío" and "Hit Me Up" which are 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; and two weeks later released a remix featuring Bootsy Collins, whom Apollo has cited as an influence. 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 released two more singles, "Dos Uno Nueve (219)" and "Want U Around" (featuring Ruel) before releasing his first mixtape Apolonio on October 16, 2020.