Omi

Omi (born Omar Samuel Pasley on 3 September 1986) is a Jamaican singer born in the parish of Clarendon. He later established himself in Kingston after being discovered by dancehall impresario Clifton Dillon (Specialist) and signed to Oufah, an independent Jamaican label.

His first recorded single was Standing On All Threes, released with a music video. He wrote his future hit Cheerleader in 2008, eventually recording, performing and releasing it in 2012. The song came out in Jamaica alongside a low-budget video shot in Oregon during his first trip to the United States; it became a modest hit in Jamaica and also gained popularity in Hawaii and Dubai. Around this time he scored several local Jamaican hits including Take It Easy, Fireworks (with a video) and Color of My Lips, featuring Busy Signal.

In 2014, Cheerleader was revived when Patrick Moxey, president of Ultra Music (a dance label connected to Sony Music), proposed relaunching it through remixes as a dance track. Ultra Music commissioned two remixes: one by Ricky Blaze and another by German producer Felix Jaehn. The label ultimately chose Jaehn’s tropical house version, which became a worldwide hit: it first exploded in Sweden (five-times platinum), then spread across Europe (notably France, Italy and Germany), topping charts in several European countries and in Australia.

In the UK, on 24 May 2015, Cheerleader led the UK Singles Chart for a fourth consecutive week, marking the longest continuous run at No. 1 there for any Jamaican artist. In the United States, the track entered the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2015 and later reached the top spot after 12 weeks on the chart.

On 27 August 2015, Omi released the single Hula Hoop. His debut studio album Me 4 U followed on 16 October 2015, including Cheerleader, Hula Hoop, Stir It and Drop in the Ocean.