Sam Smith
Important information
Born: May 19, 1992 in London, United Kingdom
Other Names: Smith, Samuel Frederick
Nationality: British
Occupation: Singer
Critics' Choice award, Brit Awards, 2014; BBC Sound of 2014 poll winner, 2014; Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Pop Vocal Album, 2015.
British soul singer Sam Smith studied music with a jazz singer as a youngster. He progressed to backing that teacher during performances and in time began collaborating with other artists as well. Following the success of some guest-vocal work, Smith released first an EP, then a full album. Both earned critical and popular praise and further recognition--Smith took home four Grammy Awards in February of 2015.
Early Life
Sam Smith was born in London, England, on May 19, 1992. His mother was a high-profile banking executive, while his father cared for Smith and his sisters in their home near London. He began performing at a very early age. Smith attended St. Mary's Catholic School, Bishop's Stortford, England.
As a teen he was singing backup for his singing teacher. He attended a stage school in London. In time he gained a manager who introduced him to songwriter Jimmy Napes.
Smith was singing at family parties when he was 12, and soon his unusual falsetto-laden voice began to attract the attention of managers, who promised to make him a star. He had nine managers by the time he was 21 and none of them delivered on their promises. Moving to London after passing his high school A-level exams. He took a job cleaning toilets in a bar--a job that was awarded for when the US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres presented him with a platinum toilet brush.
Getting Involved
Smith was recognized for his work when in 2012 he provided vocals on "Latch," a song he cowrote with Disclosure. His first solo release, in 2013, was "Lay Me Down." Smith again provided guest vocals, this time on "La La La," a dance-oriented hit by Shahid Khan. Later that year Smith's EP, Nirvana, was released and began climbing the charts. Smith was openly gay. Smith avoided gender pronouns in his love songs. His songs were highly personal, and they reflected his long experience of loneliness. Until 2014 he had never been in a long-term relationship. Smith took home four major Grammy awards at the ceremony held in February of 2015, and his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, became the only album in 2014 to sell more than 1,000,000 copies in the year 2014 in both Britain and the United States.
Choices & Results
"Stay with Me," which hit the number one spot on several US charts in late 2014, depicted one of the parties involved in a one-night stand begging the other not to leave.
Later that year, Smith released an EP, Nirvana, including an acoustic cover of "Latch" and a more upbeat song, "Money on My Mind," which in the spring of 2014 gave Smith his second number one hit, even before he had released a full-length album. It was emotional experiences and his ability to reflect them in his singing and songwriting that propelled him to the next level. Smith's full-length debut, In the Lonely Hour, appeared in May of 2014, it has ten tracks.
In His/Her Words
"Before I made this record I was doing everything to try and get my music heard," Smith said during one of his four acceptance speeches. "It was only until I started to be myself that the music started to flow and people started to listen."-The same month that In the Lonely Hour was released, Smith told the world he was gay. Smith was asked if he had faced problems coming out to others in studio settings, he replied, "Oh God, no. They assumed I was gay as soon as I walked into the room! When I was talking about the person I was in love with, I was very clear that it was a guy. No one had an issue with that at all. I just spoke about my relationship just like anyone else would." He also revealed that despite the album being full of love songs, he’s never experienced it firsthand. “I've never been in a relationship before,” he said to the magazine Fader. “In the Lonely Hour is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn't love me back. ... I was in a very dark place.” "We recognize that there's controversy with this and we'll certainly air that out.” -
Aftermath
Words From Him/Her
Mr. Smith stood onstage and said: ''I read an article a few months ago, by Sir Ian McKellen, and he said no openly gay man had ever won an Oscar. Smith dedicated the Oscar to the L.G.B.T. community all around the world."
Bibliography
1. Portrait of Sam Smith attending the Glamour Awards of the Year Awards held at Berkeley Square Gardens in London, England, on June 30, 2014. I put this picture at the beginning so if someone didn't know what Smith looked like, now they do.
2. "Sam Smith" Gale Biography in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Biography in Context. Web. 3 May 2016. This is the first website that I went on and it had a lot of facts that I could use.
3. "Sam Smith." Gale Biography In Context. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Biography in Context. Web 5 May 2016. This website had a lot of useful and interesting facts.
4. "Sam Smith." Contemporary Musicians. Detroit: Gale, 2015. Biography in Context. Web. 3 May 2016. This website talked a lot about Smith's music career.
5. Joseph, Yonette. "Sam Smith. the Only Openly Gay Oscar Winner? Not Really." New York Times 1 Mar, 2016: NA(L). Biography in Context. Web. 4 May 2016. This article showed how much Smith contributes to the L.G.B.T. community.
6. Clark, Cindy. "Billboard music awards." USA Today 8 May 2015: 01D. Biography in Context. Web. 4 May 2016. This article shows how dedicated he is to his music and his fans.
7. Sam Smith Biography: The Biography.com. This article talks about his work with the
L.G.B.T. community and how he dedicated his Grammy to them.
8. Sam Smith arrives at the 2014 American Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: Helga Esteb/Shutterstock.com). This shows Smith entering the Music Awards show.
9. http://thinkexist.com/quotes/sam_smith/. This shows the progress he is making with the L.G.B.T. community.
10. YouTube.com. This is one of his most popular songs.