Rommel Alexander Donald, known by his stage name ROMderful (formerly ROM) is a British producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist from Birmingham. He released his debut studio album, Press L to Continue, on Same Plate/Sony in April 2019.
Early life and education
Rommel Donald was born and grew up in Birmingham, England. As a child, he learned how to make beats and play multiple instruments, including the guitar, bass guitar, violin, and drums. He was also childhood friends with fellow artist and future collaborator, KayFaraway. He drew inspiration from church music, early 2000s R&B, and video game soundtracks. In his teenage years, he was a member of a death metal band. He would later attend university while also working on his music. During his second semester of university in 2015, however, Donald opted to drop out and focus on music full time.
Career
Donald began producing music under the stage name ROM (or R.O.M.) in 2015. In late 2015, he collaborated with DEFFIE on a remix of Pharrell's "Frontin'". In early 2016, he released the track "I Just Want You To Know" which sampled the Snoop Dogg song, "Beautiful". In March of that year, he released a 3-track EP as part of his record label Soulection's White Label series. That collection contained the song "You Love Em" featuring Emmavie. Later that year, he earned a placement on the remix album for GoldLink's And After That, We Didn't Talk, reworking the track, "Late Night". He also remixed tracks from Raye ("I, U, Us") and Linden Jay ("Lose Again" featuring Shola Ama). In December 2016, ROM released a track called "Kiss and Tell" featuring the vocals of Naji.
In 2017, he adopted his current stage name, ROMderful. He also released several new tracks including "Only One" (with Tendayi) and "SoReal?" (with KayFaraway). Additionally, he produced the Jean Deaux record, "Wikipedia", and appeared on Kitsuné's Afterwork Vol 1 compilation album with the track "BeThere4Me" (featuring KayFaraway). In 2018, ROMderful continued working with Jean Deaux, producing her song "Energy" which was the lead single off her EP, Krash. That year, he was also signed to Same Plate Entertainment, a joint venture label with Sony Music.
In March 2019, he released a collaborative EP, Hours After Midnight, with KayFaraway. The following month, he released his debut studio album, Press L to Continue, on Same Plate/Sony. The album was preceded by the singles "Run Tings" (with Shakka and featuring Dounia) and "1 Missed Call" (featuring Dean and Tabber). The album also featured guest appearances from TOBi, Jay Prince, Devin Tracy, Wade, and KayFaraway. Vocals from ROMderful himself also appeared on the album. Music videos for "Run Tings" and "Tired of the Games" (featuring TOBi) premiered after the album's release. ROMderful also produced the Duckwrth track "KING KING" released in May 2019 and the Jean Deaux track, "Anytime" (featuring Kehlani) released in June 2019.
In 2024, he performed the song, The Water Song, from the children's television in Yo Gabba Gabbaland, in episode 5, Water, in Season 1.
Discography
Studio albums
+ List of studio albums with selected details Title Details Press L to Continue Released: 23 April 2019 Label: Same Plate/Sony Formats: Digital download PLEASE RECONNECT CONTROLLER Released: 29 October 2021 Label: EMA Recordings Formats: Digital download
EPs
+ List of EPs with selected details Title Details Soulection White Label – 018 Released: 18 March 2016 Label: Soulection Formats: Digital download Hours After Midnight(with KayFaraway) Released: 14 March 2019 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download ICE CREAM CLONES Released: 25 November 2020 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download UTOPIA(with Summer Soul) Released: 9 June 2022 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download ICE CREAM CLONES 2 Released: 29 September 2023 Label: Self-released Formats: Digital download
Singles
+ List of singles with selected details Title Year Album "Only One" (feat. Tendayi) 2017 "BeThere4Me" (feat. KayFaraway) Afterwork Vol 1 "Run Tings" (with Shakka and feat. Dounia) 2019 Press L to Continue "1 Missed Call" (feat. Dean and Tabber)
Production and remixes
+List of production and remix creditsSongYearArtistAlbumRole "Frontin'" (remix with DEFFIE) 2015 Pharrell (feat. Jay-Z) In My Mind Remixer "Late Night" (remix) 2016 GoldLink (feat. Masego) And After That, We Didn't Talk Remixer "I, U, Us" (remix) Raye Second Remixer "Lose Again" (remix) Linden Jay (feat. Shola Ama) Remixer "Wikipedia" 2017 Jean Deaux Producer "Magic" Rayana Jay Morning After Producer "Energy" 2018 Jean Deaux Krash Producer "Squeeze" Lou Phelps (feat. Jahkoy) Producer "Anytime" 2019 Jean Deaux (feat. Kehlani) Empathy Producer "KING KING" Duckwrth THE FALLING MAN Producer "Online" 2020 SIRUP cure Producer "Overnight" SIRUP cure Producer "Sunshine" SIRUP cure Producer
References
External links ROMderful on SoundCloud