'O' No: Singer Omarion Dropped By Record Label

Posted Apr 19th 2008 11:11AM by Jawn Murray
Filed under: BV Buzz

By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com

Singer Omarion is no longer on Columbia Records.

A source at the label confirmed to the BV Buzz that the Sony imprint decided to drop the former B2K lead singer.

Omarion (real name: Omari Ishmael Grandberry) signed as a solo artist to Columbia Records after B2K broke up in December 2003. His boy band was actually signed to Sony's Epic division.

The 23-year-old singer released two solo CDs for the record company, including 2005's 'O' and 2006's '21.' Both albums were certified gold.

In December of 2007, Omarion partnered with rapper Bow Wow on the CD, 'Face Off.' To date, the set has sold 341,137 units according to SoundScan.

As an actor, Omarion starred in the films 'You Got Served,' 'Fat Albert,' 'Feel The Noise' and the straight-to-DVD release, 'Somebody Help Me.'

Bow Wow & OmarionThe personable star was also a series regular on Marques Houston's former UPN sitcom, 'Cuts.'

No word on what the singer's plans are for life after Columbia Records.

My source speculated that if former Sony executive David McPherson fills the late Ronnie Johnson's job as Executive Vice President and head of Urban Music at Capitol Records, its likely Omarion could end up there. McPherson was influential in B2K's success at Epic.

Another option could be Motown Records.

Omarion's management and production company, The Ultimate Group (TUG) has a deal with that label and released Omarion's good friend and business partner Marques Houston's last two CDs through Motown.

B2K during happier times

A rep for Columbia Records did not respond to my request for comment at press time.

He should have never had a record deal in the first place, good news anyway

krayzie said:

AGreed. That little boy could not sing to save his ass. He was an ok dancer, but that was it.

I was never a fan of the dude, but didn't every one of is solo albums debut @ #1???

That seems like a weird decision to drop someone from the label who's had that kind of success.

Paris9748430 said:

probably, but they only went gold.

Paris9748430 said:

He didn't sell real well overall though.

Timmy84 said:

the thing is all of these cats are all about week 1 sales, well that was the cool thing back in the late 90's when the Backstreet Boys were selling a million a day, but those days are over, now you can debut at 1 on an off week with 100,000 if you're lucky. Its about staying power and quite frankly "young" artists dont have it, its debut, and fall.

Timmy84 said:

That is bizaare. Unless the record company bought his first weeks at #1 and know how much he really sold. That's the only way I can figure out why they would drop him. He's a star.

Well yeah the game is changing... maybe we should focus on how popular this singles were.

Cinnie said:

Its basic economics though and its finally catching on, its supply and demand. Omarion and tons of others demand too much in Promo, meaning videos, press tours, magazines etc..and at the end of the day the units they are selling are not even close to what is being put out, if Sony spent a few million on this Bow Wow/ Omarion collabo (which im sure they did) what do they have to show for it? 350,000 sold, that basically nets in about a million bucks lost, thats why he's dropped and why many others will be. Rosters are getting cut by 30% across the board everywhere, Best Buy is cutting its Music Depts in all stores 30-40%, Virgin is going to be closing one store at the end of this year in NYC and the other is up in the air, FYE is cutting another 400 stores at the end of this year and Circuit City is basically about to go under, regardless of the proposed merger with Blockbuster, all that merger will do is shut down 50-75% of Circuit Citys stores and allow the rest to limp through.

lastdecember said:

you mean recording artist rosters?

seems silly... they won't have any albums to release

at least omarion has some sort of name recognition, compared to what they would have to do to create awareness for the next person they sign.

Not a fan but I'm a little surprised. Touch and Entourage were kinda hot.

Cinnie said:

Its all a hustle. That's why so many dopemen are drawn to the music business. They understand it. An artist gets dropped from a label. They may get picked up by another label that may also be a sub-label of the same Big 4 distributor, the only thing is their new contract would have them making less money because it would always be "well _____ dropped you because you didn't move units. I guess we could pick you up but its gonna be at $_____ instead of $_____ that you made before. If he says no then he gets nothing. Those cats play hardball with artists.

[img]the straight-to-DVD release, 'Somebody Help Me.' [/img]

"Somebody Help Me", indeed!

VinnyM27 said:

He along with Marques should be dropped from this planet just for making that movie. That shit was horrible.

BlaqueKnight said:

I stumbled upon that movie late one night and about five minutes was all I could stomach. It was one of the few times I actually took the side of the killer.

Pff, it's about time.

"I got this icebox where my heart used to be, ice box where my heart used to be ... that's so cold, that's so cold, that's so cold"

good

BlaqueKnight said:

What? Did you watch it?

Dropped? What took so long?

VinnyM27 said:

I confess to nothing.
All I'll say is this: if everyone wants you to die so that they don't have to listen to your dry line delivery, you probably aren't ready for acting yet.
Dude has a shotgun IN HIS HAND in the car...gets out of the car to go confront the killer...no shotgun. How is that even possible.....nevermind. That shit was garbage x10. Corniest movie ever.

Paris9748430 said:

Not when u PAID 4 the debut.....not did not make your money back.

^ that's terrible, Blaque.

But it was only a matter of time. Most of these new-school "R&B" cats won't stick around long..

lastdecember said:

That's the new reality, isn't it?