The singer's next move was Face Off, a full-length collaboration with Bow Wow. Its biggest single was the Timbaland and Keri Hilson collaboration "Ice Box," which peaked at number 12 on the Hot 100. The follow-up, 21, followed in December 2006 and fared identically on the charts. It was subsequently nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary R&B Album. Featuring production help from the Neptunes, Rodney Jerkins, and the Underdogs and Tank, the LP, carried by the Top 40 slow jam of the same title, topped the Billboard 200 and R&B/hip-hop charts. Signed to major-label Epic, Omarion made his solo debut the following February with O. From 1999 through 2004, he fronted the pop-R&B group B2K, who hit the Top Ten with their two proper studio albums and scored a number one pop hit with "Bump, Bump, Bump." The group split after the filming of the 2004 domestic box-office topper You Got Served, and near the end of the year, Omarion appeared in the live-action version of Fat Albert. Omarion has since recorded independently and rejoined B2K, and released his fifth solo album, The Kinection (2020).īorn Omari Ishmael Grandberry in Inglewood, California, Omarion started his career in entertainment as an actor in commercials and as a background dancer for Before Dark.
In the following decade, his career was boosted by an affiliation with Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group, a period highlighted by the multi-platinum single "Post to Be" (2014), his fourth Top 40 pop crossover hit.
The debut also made him a Grammy-nominated artist. Supported by hits such as the gold-selling singles "O" and "Ice Box," the singer and songwriter - also known for his dancing and acting - topped the Billboard 200 and R&B/hip-hop charts with his first two solo albums, O (2005) and 21 (2006). The breakout star of the young vocal group B2K, Omarion truly made a name for himself during the latter half of the 2000s as one of the era's most popular solo R&B artists.