Rex Orange County

The name Rex Orange County is based on a teacher-given nickname, "The OC", after his surname O'Connor.[5]

O'Connor was involved with music from a young age. At age five, O'Connor was a part of the choir at the school where his mother worked.[6] He became a drummer and later taught himself piano. At age sixteen, he picked up the guitar and started to produce his own music on Logic software.[7] Growing up, he listened to Queen, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, and American alternative artists like Weezer and Green Day.[7]

He started his music journey at Frensham Heights School in Farnham, Surrey. Beginning at age 16, he attended the BRIT School where he studied drumming and was one of four percussionists in his year; the relative rareness of his primary instrument provided him with wide exposure to various projects of others in his school which he credits to exposing him to new and fresh music.[6] During this time, O'Connor also began producing his own projects.[5][4]

On 4 September 2015, O’Connor self-released his debut album Bcos U Will Never B Free on SoundCloud and Bandcamp.[4] Upon listening to the album, fellow English musician and producer Two Inch Punch made contact with O’Connor, providing him with a management team. The two have continued to collaborate throughout O’Connor’s career in the form of the tracks "UNO", "Best Friend", and "Untitled". The album also caught the attention of American rapper Tyler, the Creator, who sent O’Connor an email describing his enjoyment of the project. This led to him flying O’Connor out the following year to L.A. to collaborate on his then-upcoming album Flower Boy,[7] with O’Connor co-writing and contributing vocals to the songs "Boredom" and "Foreword".[8] On 17 November 2016, O’Connor released the single “UNO”; a song Clash magazine described by writing, "The buoyant keyboard riff underpins a hypnotic half-spoken vocal, one that veers from topic to topic in a hazy burst of creative mania."[9] On 25 January 2017, O’Connor released the single “Best Friend” (premiering on Apple Music’s Beats 1 station), followed later in the year by the release of his second album Apricot Princess.[8] O’Connor’s work has been compared to "other artsy, post-genre teen artists".[10]

O’Connor’s first release following the success of Apricot Princess and Flower Boy was on 11 October 2017 with the single "Loving Is Easy", created in collaboration with the Dutch artist Benny Sings.[8] On 16 April 2018, O’Connor performed the song in his television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.[11] On 31 May 2018, O’Connor released a cover of "You've Got a Friend in Me" in collaboration with Randy Newman, the creator of the song.[12] He was also featured in Spotify's Rise Program.[7] On 9 October 2018, O’Connor was scheduled to appear on the French television program Quotidien, but refused to perform because it featured a sketch by comedian Alison Wheeler parodying the Ku Klux Klan, which he called "tasteless".[13] On 14 February 2019, O’Connor released the single "New House". Later that year, on 12 September, O’Connor released "10/10"; the lead single from his third album Pony.[14] Released on 25 October 2019, Pony was O’Connor’s first major-label album release through RCA Records.[15] NPR Music journalist Zoë Jones described O’Connor’s music as "a bright blend of hip-hop, jazz, and bedroom pop." [15]

In January 2018, O'Connor came in second in the BBC Sound of 2018 award after Norwegian singer Sigrid.[16]

• Rex Orange County at AllMusic
• Rex Orange County discography at Discogs