They performed for the Queen at two Royal Variety Performances and at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony after making male voice choirs mainstream. And now Only Men Aloud have added four additional dates to their 25thanniversary tour, which kicks off in Cardiff on September 27th.
OMA’s diehard fans The OMAniacs have been crying out the tour, which now plays Cwmbran, Llandrindod, Monmouth and Newtown in addition to Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Llandudno.
Launched by founder and conductor Tim Rhys-Evans (now Director of Music at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), the one-time UK biggest boyband of 25 is now a condensed 8-piece whose day jobs include pharmacy, teaching, gardening, but mostly music and musical theatre.
This four-date Wales tour opens in September at Cardiff’s New Theatre, with Only Kids Aloud also performing and is not so much of a comeback stint – they last performed an intimate five-date show last Christmas but, says Craig Yates, an OMA original now Creative Director of the Aloud Charity: “This is a celebration tour. We’ve had a wonderful time with OMA, which has really evolved over the last 25 years.”
OMA’s first performance was for BBC Songs of Praise at St David’s Cathedral in 2000, although it was 2008 BBC One’s Last Choir Standing which catapulted them into living rooms across the country.
They remain reigning champions of that talent show and the exposure led to a longlist of too-many-to-mention showbiz highlights, a tour of America and supporting the legendary Diana Ross at Cardiff Castle ten years later. OMA have also been immortalized in LEGO with Swansea superstar and power ballad heavyweight Bonnie Tyler, who became a regular on OMA’s bill.
“We’re all adults now,” says Craig, “with the range of family responsibilities which come with that. We’ve all got jobs and OMA is a hobby – but what a hobby to have! We’ve known each other so long that we can drop very easily back into song as it’s tough to get everyone together for rehearsals. We get on so well and went through so many surreal moments together.
“It’s only when you stop and take stock that you realise what an amazing time it has been. There are far too many highlights. For the final of Last Choir Standing, the film crew visited the hometowns of the finalist choirs and we were all speed boated into Cardiff Bay. We kept looking at each other in disbelief. We also realized then that we had fans, because there was a bit of a crowd waiting to see us.
“And there were so many other very surreal moments including on the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special with Bruce Forsyth, at the opening of the Welsh Assembly and at Showtime at the Stadium, when the Millennium Stadium opened. We were also all in a Bollywood pop video.”
Plenty of these anecdotes will feature on the new tour, alongside favourite traditional choral arrangements and upbeat adaptations which have been given a choral glow-up injected with typical OMA energy.
Only Boys Aloud, the byproduct of the Aloud Charity, who are coached by OMA members, recently gave a surprise performance with Ed Sheeran at Cardiff’s Fitzalan High School and will open the tour in Cardiff with OMA on Saturday, September 27th.
Craig said: “It’s been amazing and we are thankful that people still really enjoy listening to and seeing us. It’s lovely to be back.”
Where are they now?
- Craig Yates – Singer and Creative Director, the Aloud Charity
- David Fortey – Singer and singing teacher
- Wyn Davies – Singer and NHS pharmacist
- Paul Rothwell – Singer, In charge of Tenovus Cancer Care’s Sing with Us choir network.
- Steffan – Singer. Welsh of the West End
- Steve Hamnett – Singer, gardener
- Huw Euron – Singer, actor, voiceover artist and teacher
- Niall Allen – Singer, runs a PR agency
- James Ifan – Singer, actor
