O’Rael is a musician and singer whose soul music and high-energy performances brighten the streets of Bath.
He blends vibrant rhythms and timeless classics, creating a memorable connection, discovers Emma Clegg.
“I can talk for both England and Nigeria – and I will still win!”, says O’Rael, laughing and flashing the big, transformative smile that defines him as a man and as a musician. (It was a convincing claim – he was so busy telling me his story that his tea went cold before he’d picked the cup up.)
O’Rael is undoubtedly someone who throws himself into things. Talking is only one part of it; his own particular brand of soul music is the other. Those living in Bath know him well – often to be found in Stall Street or at the bottom of Milsom Street – bringing his soul voice and his high-energy, rhythm-driven dance moves to the streets in a sweeping, upbeat, connecting way, a sound perhaps only rivalled by his big heroes, Marvin Gaye, Louis Armstrong and Otis Redding. If you have rhythm in you, whatever your taste in music, O’Rael will almost certainly bring it out.
These are songs that you can’t sing half-heartedly. Take (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (Otis Redding), When a Man Loves a Woman (Percy Sledge), or I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye). You can’t slip them in unnoticed; these are classics from the soul masters.
“Soul music was an area that was under-performed,” says O’Rael. “People sing these classics from the ’50s and ’60s in a modern, pop style, but I do it like the original guys. A Polish man watched me once when I was busking, singing Unchain My Heart. He couldn’t speak English. All he said excitedly was, ‘Ray Charle.s, Ray Charles’. I knew he meant I could do Ray Charles very well. I do try to always do these songs the way the original musicians did them, but I always add a bit of myself too, just to make it my own.”
So what are the roots of O’Rael’s love for music and performing? “I am a graduate of theatre arts but a lot of my music comes from my mum”, he explains. His mother died two years ago, but he refers to her in the present tense, as if she is still with him. “She sings virtually everything, anything. She never studied music – she’s a fulltime housewife, but she is always singing. She would come to this place now and turn everything here to a song”, he says, adding, “I’ll probably tell her about it tonight.”
O’Rael’s mum sang traditional music from the Urhobo tribe in Southern Nigeria. “Many Nigerian comedians and musicians come from there. It is a very sociable, lively region, we are loud and ‘out there’, very pumped. It’s our nature, and music is a huge part of that.”
O’Rael has two brothers and six sisters. His dad died when he was young, and his older sister took the responsibility for bringing him up, and under her tutelage O’Rael became less rebellious. As he got older, he discovered a love for comedy and the theatre, with his hero American comedian and actor Bill Cosby. He joined a drama and dance group and later went to university in Nigeria to study Theatre Arts, and worked for a number of years as an actor.
O’Rael did a Diploma in Media and Music Technology where he became a radio presenter: “That was perfect because I talk and laugh, and people say my laughter is infectious!” It was through meeting a local busker that he got the idea of trying it himself. He spent four years touring the UK, travelling from city to city, which is how he ended up living in Bath. “It was such fun! – from Scotland and Norwich to Plymouth and Newquay. It was a great adventure.”
The singer absolutely looks the part. “I always like to dress up, influenced by the old jazz, blues and soul Black musicians. My friends in Nigeria used to mock me, always dressed in suits in the heat. Now it helps to keep the image of the music genre.”
O’Rael explains that he is 29, even though he came to England as an adult and he’s been here for 20 years. “I’ve been 29 for years now, and I’ll stick to it. It’s my truth – it helps me feel strong and young, and it keeps me mentally focused.”
Music is O’Rael’s true love. “She is my life force. She gives me everything. I believe God is using music to heal me – it is a tool he gave me and I’m using it well.” He remembers a day in Oxford when an old lady was sitting near him as he was performing. When he stopped singing, she got up and walked towards him. “She put £10 in my hand, held it to her chest and said, ‘You made my day.’ I’m always very emotional when I sing and that really touched me, because I took her back to a special time. I felt so warm inside realising that I was contributing something.”
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Main photograph by The Bath Magazine