Soul Royalty

Brit soulster Omar Lye-Fook would love to act in an Agatha Christie adaptation for the telly. “Yeah,” he enthuses down the line in that velvety baritone of his. “Maybe as a baddie – yeah, that's it!” It's not so far-fetched. Those '80s UK soul singers Lisa Stansfield and Mica Paris (a Lye-Fook pal) have both popped up in Marple. And Lye-Fook has acted in recent years. However, today Lye-Fook is as much about the music as drama, gearing up for his inaugural Australian (mini) tour.

Lye-Fook is conducting interviews in the early evening – it's seven-ish. “It's almost my bedtime,” he says. How… genteel. “Nah, I'm only joking,” he chuckles. “I'm in the studio now trying to finish off a project by tomorrow, so I'm working.” In fact, 2012 has proven a good year for the singer and multi-instrumentalist. Lye-Fook made the Queen's Birthday Honours List, being awarded an MBE for services to music. How did he celebrate? “With a nice bottle of bubbly and telling my missus and my mum and dad,” Lye-Fook replies. “But we haven't celebrated properly – I might have a party in February once I get the investiture.” He'll apparently go to Buckingham Palace in January.

The London-born but Canterbury, Kent-raised Lye-Fook, who plays piano, trumpet and percussion, was destined for a musical vocation. He attended London's Guildhall School Of Music & Drama only to pioneer neo-soul. Lye-Fook initially aired music on his muso dad's indie, Kongo Records. His 1990 single There's Nothing Like This generated sufficient buzz for him to land a deal with Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud and he released a popular album of the same title. Lye-Fook has always been more of an album artist, though in the late '90s he memorably covered The Stranglers' Golden Brown (possibly the punks' ode to heroin, but not for Lye-Fook). He also found himself shifting from label to label. By 2000 Lye-Fook was aligned with the French Naïve Records.

The soulster last delivered 2006's 'clubby' Sing (If You Want It) with impressive cameos from Angie Stone, Common (Lye-Fook guested on his boho Electric Circus), and Estelle (rapping!), not to mention Stevie Wonder. Over the years Lye-Fook has collaborated with many a legend, including Motown hitmaker Lamont Dozier, Marvin Gaye (and Maxwell) cohort Leon Ware, and Erykah Badu. Any especially memorably sessions? “Ah, well, working with Stevie was right up there, definitely,” Lye-Fook recollects. Wonder, an old fan, called him “out of the blue,” wanting to hang out in London and make music. They cut Feeling You. “He had promised that he would do a duet, but it took me about eight, nine years to get him into the studio! [Lye-Fook's bio says 14 years.] But going in was worth the wait.”

In the past few years Lye-Fook has taken acting classes and ventured into music theatre, lately starring in Ché Walker's LoveSong. “When my girls [twins Gabrielle and Carmen] were born [in 2008], I just thought it'd be a nice other avenue to make some revenue.” He does voiceovers, Alfa Romeo a client.

With Sing reissued via Tru Thoughts, Lye-Fook is readying a long overdue comeback, The Man. He has produced his seventh album himself with his brother Scratch Professer, “writing with people from all around the world.” “It's typical Omar style, different and evolving.”

Lye-Fook is open to new modes of urban music. He recorded 2011's Dancing with Zed Bias, a leading UK garage DJ/producer who presaged dubstep. This year Lye-Fook sang on grime rapper Bashy's LDN Town.

This month Lye-Fook will hit Melbourne and Sydney, his show entailing “some of the old, some of the new”. Fitting a nearly 30-year career into an hour-long set will be “challenging”. Lye-Fook will not be bringing a band but, better, performing with local musicians – from The Bamboos. Will Lye-Fook sing Golden Brown? “There's always a chance,” he laughs. Indeed, Omar's hazy version might just be better than the original. “Ah, no way,” he protests, laughing harder. “That's like a classic to me, that one – the original.”