Oritsé Williams
Oritse Williams press walk red carpet
Oritsé Williams
ABOUT
Top UK recording artist Oritsé (O-ree-shay) Williams needs no introduction. As the creator and founding member of JLS one of the most successful boybands in UK music history, Oritsé has earned the love and respect of both his peers in the music industry and also a loyal army of dedicated fans.
Oritsé and his group first rose to prominence in the UK in 2008 as finalists on the UK’s most popular TV talent show The X Factor. The multi-platinum award-winning band went on to achieve 5 number 1 chart-topping singles, sold over 6 million records worldwide and sold more than 1.4million live tickets including playing London’s O2 Arena a whopping 16 times during their four-album career. During their meteoric rise, Oritsé alongside JLS also achieved 2 Brit Awards, 5 MOBO Awards, 4 Digital Music Awards, and 3 Urban Music Awards.
In 2014 JLS decided to take a break for the individual members to have the opportunity to explore other avenues. Oritsé stayed heavily involved in music and went on to land a record deal as a solo artist with Universal records releasing the critically acclaimed ‘Waterline’ featuring Pusha T exclusively launched on Jay-Z's Life & Times website. During this time Oritsé also spent time signing, developing, and writing for other artists and co-founded the boutique management company who enjoyed success with Zayn Malik’s 2019 single ‘Flames’, featuring R3HAB and Jungleboi racking up over 55 million streams globally on Spotify.
At the beginning of 2020 Oritsé alongside JLS announced their comeback and after 2 iconic TV performances with a pandemonium of fans crowding the BBC studios sold out a 30 date nationwide arena tour, which included 4 sold-out O2 Arena tour dates scheduled for June/July 2021.
When Covid-19 hit and the whole world went into lockdown, Oritsé spent time writing spoken word poetry, another hidden talent of his until recently. With sighting his spoken word inspirations from the likes of artists such as Lauryn Hill to Common and The Roots, as well as some other less known spoken word artists, Oritsé has developed a unique identity and style for himself. His spoken word has become a hit with his fan base, racking up over 200,000 impressions across his social media platforms hence a poetry book now inevitably on the horizon.
Oritsé is well known for his humanitarian work on behalf of various charities, which include the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Young Carers, and The Princes Trust. Some of Oritsé’s initiatives include his very own documentary “Britain’s Youngest Carers” commissioned by Channel 4. A factual film created and presented by Oritsé investigating the plight of more than 700,000 vulnerable young people all over the country, some as young as 6 years old, who (very much like Oritsé did) have to act as full-time carers for their poorly loved ones. Oritsé’s campaigning for support for Young carers has intensified with the pressures Young Carers find themselves in, especially now, and is in the process of setting up his own organisation to directly help and support Young Carers in effective and beneficial ways.
In recent times with the subject of racial inequality and police brutality still being very much an issue Oritsé created a united front starting the ‘Enough is Enough’ campaign, inspired by the words from his poem ‘Am I next?’. The campaign was a huge success with Oritsé’s poem being shared by people from all different backgrounds from all over the world as well as celebrities from Leona Lewis and Olly Murs to Trevor Nelson and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
The next few years for Oritsé is incredibly exciting as it is and yet he is still determined to do more. It’s Oritsé’s passion, commitment, creativity and drive whilst appreciating and enjoying every moment of life that ultimately defines Oritsé Williams.