Omar Apolonio Velasco, known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer-songwriter. 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.
real name: Omar Apolonio Velasco
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
Omar Apolonio Velasco was born on May 20, 1997, in Hobart, Indiana, to Mexican parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He grew up in Indiana with his three older siblings. Apollo's parents both worked multiple jobs to support the family. His family had a taco shop before he was born called El Super Taco which popularized his family's hot sauce that he would later sell as Disha Hot Sauce. As a child, Apollo was a ballet folklorico dancer and he was also a part of his Catholic church choir.
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.
Apollo's music has primarily been described as R&B, alternative R&B, and pop with elements of soul, funk, hip hop, latin music, trap, and bedroom pop.