| Omar Naber was born on 7 July 1981 as Omar Kareem, which in Arabic (his father is Jordanian) means ‘a friend for every occasion’.
Omar is a dental technician but is far more interested in music than in drilling teeth – although, when it comes to girls, he does like a gleaming smile! He plays piano (his mother is a music teacher), guitar and bass piano. And apart from singing, composing, writing lyrics and musical arrangements, he is interested in the music industry as a whole.
At the moment he has ambitions to be a solo artist, but also loves to perform with his group ‘Kareem’. The group performs in various clubs and open-air festivals, such as Rock Otočec.
Omar says he is a punk rocker at heart. Nevertheless, one of his musical idols was Michael Jackson. His ‘Dangerous’ album was the first record that Omar bought with his own money.
Omar entered ‘The Battle of the Talents’ competition that was part of the Sunday evening TV show ‘Home Again’ after being encouraged by Matjaž Vlašič from the record label Nika Records. (Matjaž also wrote the previous Eurovision song ‘Energy’ which was performed by Nuša Derenda). Omar decided that the show would be a good opportunity for him to promote his group.
Compared to the majority of the other contestants, Omar is an experienced performer, but he never thought he would win – at least not at first. Apparently, he was seemed calm when he was told that he had won a competition, with a great rendition of the Robbie Williams' song ‘Feel’.
His reaction after winning the Slovenian national competition for the Eurovision Song Contest with his song ‘Stop’ was more or less the same. Of course, Omar was happy, but he prefers to avoid big emotional outbursts, both on stage and privately!
Apart from a professional voice and a good song, Omar is well aware that looks are important. But please don’t compare him to Robbie Williams! He doesn’t want to be seen as a teenage pin-up alongside other artists.
Omar is sure to stay realistic and sincere despite the enormous media attention in Kyiv.
Unusually for such a young and enterprising man, Omar hasn’t mastered computers and doesn’t hold a valid driving licence. Instead, Omar's favourite personal driver (and best friend) is his brother Anis who is four years younger and to whom Omar is very attached. |
