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Lemar was revealed to the nation tonight as The Masked Singer’s Cricket, describing the experience as: “So much fun! It’s been more than I could have imagined expressing yourself on songs that people wouldn’t expect.”
But he tells The Express that he’s not done subverting expectations and forging new career avenues with a “scary” new challenge already lined up for next month.
22 years ago, Tottenham lad Lemar Obika shot to fame with his smokey smooth vocals on reality show Fame Academy, losing in the final to David Sneddon. Seven top ten singles, three MOBOS and two BRITS followed. After a quiet few years, fans are convinced he’s about to be revealed as Cricket on tonight’s final of The Masked Singer.
He’d toured with Destiny’s Child years before fame found him, and performing remains in his blood decades later: “There’s nothing like standing in front of an act live onstage and being moved in some very deep way. It’s almost a carnal feeling. Once you’re in front of someone and they’re hitting it, that’s something that can’t be replicated.”
Lemar tells us: “I’m trying to tick a lot of boxes,” and he isn’t wasting any time this year, releasing new album Page In My Heart, embarking on a solo tour and making his stage musical debut in Sister Act.
Lemar already has ten dates lined up for the UK solo tour, kicking off on April 6 at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and wrapping up (so far) at London’s Adelphi Theatre on April 16.
He tells us: “They want to hear some old tunes? I’ll definitely be giving them that. With some stuff from Page In My Heart and a few other things I’ll probably sprinkle in as well.”
Lemar reckons his love for music and performing has been revived decades after “those special times when you’re experiencing everything for the first time. Staying in nice hotels, meeting new people, seeing new places. Stuff you can’t believe.”
His first attempts to break the music industry had lead to supporting US groups like Destinys’ Child on the UK legs of their tour. Against his parents’ wishes he turned down a university place top study pharmacy. A short-lived record deal with BMG collapsed after a year and only produced one single, Got Me Saying Ooh, released in October 2001, that failed to chart.
Fame Academy changed everything, starting with 2003 number 2 single Dance (With U) and three albums that went platinum or better.
Lemar recalls: “those special times when you’re experiencing everything for the first time. Staying in nice hotels, meeting new people, seeing new places. Stuff you can’t believe.”
TICKETS FOR LEMAR’S NEW TOUR ARE AVAILABLE HERE
Lemar tells us, however: “As time goes on, you tick all your boxes, you’ve won all your awards, performed with your heroes. You naturally lose a little bit of that buzz, although you still have a passion for it.”
Page In My Heart was his first album in eight years, but he sees it as part of a wider renaissance, with room to also explore exciting new avenues.
The role of Lord Smythe-Smith in Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story last year came about because: “I’ve always wanted to scratch the acting itch. So I threw my hat out there.”
Acting is a “new, scary thing” but he is forging ahead, about to make his West End stage debut, too.
Lemar is also about to dance into stage musical Sister Act, based on the Whoopie Goldberg cult classic movie. He is playing Curtis Shank, the gangster boyfriend of Beverley Knight’s’ Deloris Van Cartier. Ruth Jones is Mother Superior.
The soulful singing is not the tough part for a man who remains known for his Fame Academy rendition of the Al Green classic Let’s Stay Together.
Lemar says: “The song that Curtis sings is not too challenging, but the rest of it, the acting and interaction with the other professional creators on stage, I want to make sure that I get that right.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but you’ve got to jump into it. It’s a short life, you blink and it’s gone.”
TICKETS FOR LEMAR’S NEW TOUR ARE AVAILABLE HERE
LEMAR STARS IN SISTER ACT AT LONDON’S DOMINION THEATRE FROM MARCH 15