Omah Lay is a popular artiste that many people have been seeking to know certain things about and how he became famous.
Real name
His real name is Stanley Omah Didia and known professionally as Omah Lay
Date of Birth
Omah Lay was born on 19th May 1997 in Port Harcourt which is the capital city of Rivers State. His state of birth is located in present day South-South Geo-political region. Before State creation, Nigeria practiced regional system of government and present day Rivers State was under old Eastern region.
Childhood
He was born on the 19th of May 1997 in Port Harcourt city, Rivers State. He is from Egbeda Emohua Local Government Area in Rivers State. Some notable music artists don’t have music running in their linage as either practiced by the father, grandfather, uncle, aunty, brothers or sisters but for Omah Lay his family has a solid background in music. His grandfather Celestine Ukwu before his death in 1977 was notable for high life music that reads deep meaning into the happenings in the society.
Till date many people still play songs or music created by the illustrious grandfather of Omay Lay. His father was also skillful in playing drums and he played drum for his father Celestine Ukwu who is known as Omah Lay’s Grandfather too.
His strong family background in music industry /generally entertainment industry showed the long preparation of Lay as noble artiste that discovered his talent early in life and pursued it without looking back. Some people with his type of talent may have hid it or procrastinated to start it on a later date and could perhaps wake up to see that the passion may no longer be there. Lay is gifted and his grandfather’s success also inspired him to embrace his calling and passion which has placed him in limelight early in life.
Which High School did Omah Lay attend?
He attended Comprehensive High School in his state of birth, Rivers State before proceeding to the university.
University he attended
Having completed his High School generally referred as Secondary school education in Nigeria, he proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt for his bachelor degree. Lay is among notable artiste that saw the four walls of the university. University of Port Harcourt is a Federal University owned by the federal government of Nigeria and located in the capital city of Port Harcourt Rivers State. His pursuit for university education at the higher level also showed that he demonstrated passion for education in line with seeking knowledge and networking too.
Genres
He is categorized under Afrobeats. It is more of Nigeria or Ghana style of music that is placing West Africa in the world music map. History will be kind to Lay for his immeasurable contribution in making the world to know the wonders of West Africans in music industry that fit into credible entertainment.
What is Lay’s occupation or profession?
He is a singer, songwriter and record producer. In the music industry, there are artiste who only write songs and don’t sing it. Tentatively such artiste may not be able to make it big until direct performance comes into play. Raving fans love their favourable artistes as they love their voice too. Omah Lay is gifted as he writes songs, sing it and also participate actively in the record production. It made him unique, committed and perfected to have a smooth journey ahead in the music industry especially in his Afrobeats genres categorization.
Career details
Even though Lay was born into a family with a reputation in music industry, he still started his career in a small way to understand the nitty gritty of the business of the passion he wished to pursue as a very young man trying to come into the limelight. Before taking the professional name Omah Lay, he was known as Lil King when he started under a rap group referred to that name in line with collectivity. His disengagement from the group enabled him to move into embracing songwriting and record production. It did not record immediate success to announce him in the winner’s circle but in April 2019 he released “Do not Disturb” and also released “Hello Brother “after one month interval.
In June 2019, having discovered his talent in songwriting, singing and record production, he struck a deal to join a record label called KeyQaad. After signing to the record label, he took half a year break to unwind and have a personal time. During the few months break, he was not active in any social media platform where he could interact with the general public. While on the break, he worked on a new project “Get Layd” where he recorded “Bad influence” which later turned out to be a hit. It got massive streaming on Apple music towards the end of the year 2020.
Other songs and feature
His first official single called “You” was released on the 14th of February 2020. His project success in “EP Get Layd” had his five tracks gaining massive music streaming according to Apple Music Charts. His second five tracks was released on the 20th day of November 2020 with ‘’Godly” topping the list as the most streamed even though other tracks were also very successful. Omah Lay’s talent and dedication attracted Olamide who featured him on his album “Carpe Diem”. Lay’s continuous rise as a skillful artiste also enabled him to feature and collaborate with Justin Bieber twice with the second song titled “Attention”
Arrest in Uganda
In the peak of his success in 2020, Omah Lay was arrested on the 14th day of December 2020 alongside another Nigerian artiste “Tems” with the real name Temilade Openiyi after they have performed in a show there in Uganda. Nigerians and fans of the two artistes all over the world stood in solidarity and requested for their release. In 2020, there was lockdown and restriction of certain social activities due to the outburst of Covid’19 which World Health Organization (WHO) labeled a pandemic.
Omah Lay and Tems were both arrested for purportedly violating covid’19 lockdown protocols but they were later released having been cleared from the case that warranted the public embarrassment.
Awards/Nomination
Since Omah Lay recorded huge success and breakthrough in 2020, he gathered awards/nomination between 2020 and 2021.
In 2020, he was a nominee in The Headies under two categories of Best R AND B Single, Next Rated Viewer’s Choice. His song Bad Influence fetched him the headies award nomination under Best R & B Single.
In 2021, his songs Omah Lay, Godly, Pami have enabled him to gain recognition for nomination award in Ghana Music Awards, MTV Africa Music Awards, Net Honours, All Africa Music Awards and host others.