Live Nation presents Bec O'Malley

In 2024, Bec O’Malley went on a hike in the Peak District with his friends. He’d taken his acoustic guitar with him and decided to film a quick video of him covering Dylan Gossett’s ‘Coal’ while out on the misty paths. In the short clip, the young musician forgets the words a few lines in, but there was something about it that connected with those who saw it on their algorithm. Perhaps it was the unpolished charm of the video – mistake left in, cut off before he could try again – or his resonant vocals that hit in even just a few seconds, or a combination of the two. The likes quickly poured in, more so than for any other video he’d posted on TikTok before, igniting interest in this unknown talent. O’Malley’s name may have been undiscovered when that video was posted, but by that point, he’d already been playing music and writing his own songs for years. Growing up in Stockport, he first picked up a guitar aged 12, learning the basics from his cousin and fleshing out the rest from YouTube tutorials. A few years later, his interest turned from simply playing others’ creations to working on his own, first in bands with school friends, and then on his own. Along the way, his sound evolved, pulling in new influences and building the foundations for the music he makes today. “I was doing the indie stuff for so long, and I was just getting bored of it,” he explains.