Hailing from Scotland, one of the latest Capitol Records signees to hit the music scene goes by the nom de plume ONR (pronounced “honor”). He is a dynamic singer-songwriter, with a touch of electronica, soul and rock.
ONR has been described as an overnight sensation, but, admittedly, he claims his experience has been quite the contrary. “When I was 16/17, straight out of school, I won a big U.K. songwriting competition, which took me to the U.S., and put me amongst agents and managers,” he says. “I had believed I wanted that more than anything else. But I couldn’t make it work. I wasn’t ready. I took myself completely out of that world for a few years and really worked hard on improving myself; toured with a few bands, wrote for a few projects and whatever I could.”
ONR continued to focus on developing his songwriting and maintained contact with Steven Melrose from Leftwing Recordings, whom he had met years earlier. The budding songwriter sent Melrose some rough demos and that really got their professional relationship going. “It was so fast. Steven loved the demos I sent him,” says ONR. “We leaked them out through Leftwing to a few people in the U.K. and U.S. like press guys, radio stations and blogs. We had heavy interest from a few major labels in the U.S. I flew over to meet with them all. But I knew instantly meeting the guys at Capitol that that’s where I wanted to be. Their outlook was so genuinely passionate and very much like mine. They wanted to take the time and get things perfect, then push it out there. We’ve been able to take our time and curate this record properly. I know how lucky I am to do that.”
The record in question was the emotionally stirring single “Jericho.” The song single-handedly garnered ONR praise in many leading music industry publications and placed him on main stages at some of the top U.K. festivals like Electric Fields, Loopallu and Tartan Heart. Upon ONR’s signing with Capitol, the song “Five Years Time” is starting to register with critics and fans as well.
“We’re looking to release a full EP around spring 2018,” explains ONR. “I’m really looking forward to introducing people to some brighter, more energetic tracks to offset the darker stuff they’ve already heard.”
Date Signed: January 2017
Label: Capitol Records
Type of Music: Singer-songwriter/Electronic
Management: Steven Melrose - Leftwing Management
Booking: Corrie Christopher - Paradigm
Legal: Nicky Stein
Publicity: Amanda Blide, [email protected]
Web: onrhq.com
A&R: Nate Albert
