Omar Apollo

At the 65th Grammy Awards, Apollo was nominated for Best New Artist, his first Grammy nomination.

In 2021, Apollo released the single "Go Away," including a music video and a live performance on The Tonight Show.

He followed up with the single "Bad Life," featuring Kali Uchis, marking their second collaboration after "Hey Boy" from Apolonio.

In February 2022, Apollo released the single "Invincible" featuring Daniel Caesar and announced the release date for his debut album.

The following month he released the singles "Killing Me," which included a live performance on The Tonight Show, and "Tamagotchi," which was co-written and produced by The Neptunes.

With the release of "Tamagotchi", Apple Music Up Next selected Omar Apollo as its featured artist for the month in April 2022.

Apollo released his debut studio album Ivory on April 8, 2022 and also embarked on the Desvelado tour to support the album.

The album received mostly positive reviews with praises going towards Apollo's musical growth and vocal performance.

It entered the Billboard 200 chart, marking his first-ever entry on the chart.

The deluxe version of the album, Ivory (Marfil), was released on August 12, 2022.

Omar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an American singer and 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.

Omar Apolonio Velasco was born to Mexican parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Guadalajara.

A first-generation immigrant, he grew up in Hobart, Indiana with his three older siblings.

Apollo's parents both worked multiple jobs to support the family.

Apollo danced ballet folklorico when he was a child, and he was also a part of his Catholic church choir.

Apollo's parents bought him a guitar when he was 12 at his request; however, it was an electric guitar without an amp.

Apollo traded the guitar at a pawn shop for an acoustic guitar.

At age 17, he worked at McDonald's in order to save up enough money to buy a laptop and then a microphone which he used to learn how to sing and play by watching and mimicking YouTube cover videos.

Apollo was also taught by his uncle, and he practiced playing at church.

He would go on to form a short-lived band with a friend at church.

Apollo started his career by creating and uploading his songs to the DIY streaming platform SoundCloud.

At this 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 would cross more than 15 million streams.

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 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.

He went on his first European tour in 2019, as well, and played at Lollapalooza and Tropicália.

In late 2019, Apollo released the singles, "Frío" and "Hit Me Up," both 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 on September 10th, 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 then released two more singles, "Dos Uno Nueve (219)" and "Want U Around" (featuring Ruel) before releasing his first mixtape Apolonio on October 16, 2020.

Apollo was featured on "Te olvidaste" by Spanish artist C. Tangana on his 2021 album El Madrileño.

The song received two Latin Grammy Awards nominations for Record of the Year and Best Alternative Song.