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‘I’m closer to the end than the beginning’: British soul legend Omar on EastEnders, Stevie Wonder and his industry battles

He’s worked with the cream of US neo-soul and is seen as a national treasure by his peers – so why is Omar underrated? From hits to label struggles, he revisits the highs and lows

While he may not have their profile, he’s put out music since the mid-80s and his importance is acknowledged not just by YouTube commenters but by successive generations of tastemakers and artists, from livestreaming sensation DJ AG – who recently did a pop-up gig with Omar outside a London McDonald’s – to Children of Zeus. “I need to find the good in everybody.” In person, he’s exceptionally down-to-earth but on record, he has a supernatural gift for blending genres like funk, jazz, samba, hip-hop and salsa, and on Brighter the Days, he turbo-charges this with lush strings. Lyefook grew up in a musical family in Kent: those Latin influences could have subconsciously come from his Cuba-born grandmother, his Chinese-Jamaican father is a reggaedrummer who put out his son’s first singles on his label, and his siblings are all musicians.

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