Robert David Shields, known professionally as ONR, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and producer currently signed to Seeker Music.

Early life and career

ONR is originally from

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

, but has spent most of his life living in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. As a teenager, he signed a publishing deal in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, set up his own record label, and released an album. He would later form a band called Finding Albert, and composed music for various film and television projects including

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. In mid-2016, he began releasing music under the ONR. moniker through the Los Angeles indie label, Leftwing. Soon after, he signed a record deal with Capitol Records. Influences on ONR. include

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, OMD,

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...

and

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. Early on, he received support from LA radio stations,

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

and KCSN. He released his first major label single, "Jericho," in August 2017 and played the main stage at the Electric Fields Festival soon after. He released his second single "5 Years Time" in November 2017. He followed that with the release of "American Gods" in February 2018. He signed to Warner Records in 2019. In August 2020, ONR released "Kill TV" on

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

which featured guitarist and producer

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

. The two struck up a friendship after meeting at Abbey Road Studios. Rodgers said of working with ONR "it was almost like Daft Punk, I played one song and after they were like, 'well, here's another one and here's another one'... I said, ‘wow, this guy has really got something.'" ONR has toured across Europe with artists including

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and Mondo Cozmo. In 2023 Shields was given the PRS Foundation "Hitmaker Award", the organisation's award for rising songwriters and producers. Shields is a keen environmentalist and conservationist. In 2024, in collaboration with world-renowned nature sound recordist Martyn Stewart, Shields wrote and produced the album "Imperfect Cadence", capturing the natural soundscapes of Scotland over fifty-years. The album was praised worldwide, receiving positive reviews from ''Billboard'',

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and ''Esquire''. Lead single "You & I" was remixed and released through

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

’s EarthPercent foundation. Shields was a guest contributor at the renowned Cooper Union Great Hall at New York Climate Week 2024 and has worked with organisations including The Museum of

The United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among ...

Discography

EPs

Singles

As featured artist

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:ONR Warner Records artists 21st-century Scottish male singers Scottish singer-songwriters Scottish pop singers Musicians from Dumfries British male singer-songwriters