OMC

Bio

Going under the name OMC (Otara Millionaires Club), New Zealand native Pauly Fuemana performs a mix of traditional Polynesian music and modern-day urban music which has won him a following far beyond the Pacific Rim.

Born to a Nuiean father and a Maori mother, Fuemana grewup in the working-class Auckland suburb of Otara, where he frequently got into trouble withauthorities before finding a creative outlet through music, forming the hip-hop group Otara Millionaires Club with his brother Phillip Fuemana and Paul Ave in 1993. Their single 'We are the OMC' became a local hit and earned them a spot on the 1995 Big Day Out tour, Australia's answer to Lollapalooza.

By mid-1995 OMC was essentially Pauly Fuemana, who began working closely with influential Auckland producer Alan Jansson. Fuemana and Jansson penned some new tunes, the first of which, 'How Bizarre', became a No. 1 hit in New Zealand in early 1996, soon reaching No. 1 in Australia. By mid-1996 the single was No. 1 in Canada and No. 5 in the U.K., cementing OMC's status as New Zealand's first major international act since Split Enz.

Fuemana and Jansson collaborated on OMC's 1997 full-length debut, 'How Bizarre', featuring the hit title single plus nine eclectic new tracks. The album sold between three and four million copies, making it the highest selling New Zealand record of all time.

The band broke up in 2000.

Record producer Phil Fuemana, Pauly's old brother, died of a heart attack in 2005, aged 41.

In 2007 the band made a brief comback by teaming up with actress Lucy Lawless to record the track '4 All Of Us'.

Pauly Fuemana died in North Shore Hospital, Auckland on January 31, 2010, aged 40. He had been ill for several months.

Band Members:
Pauly Fuemana
Phil Fuemana
Alan Jansson

Links

• Amplifier Profile
• MySpace Profile