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Lemar

English R&B singer–songwriter

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ1291080
Source-derived summary

Lemar Izubundu Nnagdziem Obika (born 4 April 1978), known mononymously as Lemar, is an English singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to prominence in the early 2000s following his appearance on the BBC talent competition Fame Academy. After finishing third on the programme's first series in 2002, he signed a recording contract with Sony BMG.

Lemar released his debut studio album, Dedicated, in 2003. The album produced the UK top 10 singles "Dance (With U)", "50/50" and "Another Day", and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). His second album, Time to Grow (2004), also achieved double platinum certification and included the single "If There's Any Justice", which peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart.

His success coincided with a wider resurgence of British contemporary soul and R&B artists during the 2000s. Over the course of his career, Lemar has released seven UK top 10 singles and ten UK top 20 singles, and has sold more than two million albums in the United Kingdom. He has won two Brit Awards and three MOBO Awards.

Later albums include The Truth About Love (2006), The Reason (2008), Invincible (2012), The Letter (2015) and Page in My Heart (2023), the latter of which was released independently through Angelic Media and Absolute Label Services.

Outside music, Lemar has appeared in television and theatre productions including Dancing on Ice, The Masked Singer, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and the West End production of Sister Act. He has remained active as a recording and touring artist for more than two decades.

Editorial summary

“Lemar” enters the record as english R&B singer–songwriter. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lemar, English and singer can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1978, 2002, 2003, 2004—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1978-04-04. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Lemar, English and singer.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Lemar” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lemar, English and singer provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1291080. VIAF identifies the subject as 34709313. The Library of Congress control number is no2004105847. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1978, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Lemar”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Lemar primary sources, Lemar archive and Lemar research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lemar”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Lemar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.