Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. In October 2012, they[a] performed on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. The following year, they performed on Naughty Boy's 2013 single "La La La", which became a number one single on the chart.
For other people named Sam Smith, see Sam Smith (disambiguation).
Smith's debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in May 2014 through Capitol Records UK.[9] The album's lead single, "Lay Me Down", was released prior to "La La La". The album's second single, "Money on My Mind", became their second number one single in the UK.[10] Its third single, "Stay with Me", was internationally successful, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while subsequent singles "I'm Not the Only One" and "Like I Can" reached the top ten in the UK. The album won four awards at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Smith's song "Writing's on the Wall" served as the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), and won Smith a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Smith's second studio album, The Thrill of It All, was released in November 2017 and debuted atop the UK and US album charts. Its lead single, "Too Good at Goodbyes" reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US. Following the 2018 single "Promises" (with Calvin Harris), which peaked at number one in the UK, Smith released "Dancing with a Stranger" (with Normani) in 2019, which peaked within the top ten in the UK and the US, also receiving a nomination for Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards. The singles, along with "How Do You Sleep?" would precede the release of their third studio album, Love Goes (2020).[11] In 2022, Smith's single "Unholy" (with Kim Petras), would become their first number one single in the US and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song would precede their fourth album, Gloria (2023).[12]
Smith's numerous accolades include five Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three Billboard Music Awards, and an American Music Award, as well as a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. On the UK Albums Chart, In the Lonely Hour was the best-selling debut album of the 2010s and the sixth best-selling album of the decade, while collectively Smith's albums spent the fourth-most weeks at number one in the 2010s, behind Ed Sheeran, Adele and Eminem.[13][14] Smith is the first openly non-binary musician to both release a song that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and to win a Grammy Award.[12]
Early life
Samuel Frederick Smith[15] was born in London on 19 May 1992,[16] to Frederick Smith and broker Kate Cassidy.[16][17] Smith grew up in Great Chishill, where they attended Thomas More Primary School.[18] They were bullied for having breasts as a child and underwent liposuction at age 12.[19] As part of Youth Music Theatre UK, Smith appeared in the troupe's 2007 production of Oh! Carol, a musical featuring the music of Neil Sedaka.[20] Before entering the musical theatre, they had been in jazz bands.[21] While studying singing and songwriting under jazz pianist Joanna Eden for a number of years,[22] Smith attended St Mary's Catholic School in Bishop's Stortford[23] and was a member of the Bishop's Stortford Junior Operatics (now Bishops Stortford Musical Theatre Society) and the Cantate Youth Choir.[24] Smith attended the Anglican St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden, with family members, as a youth.[25] Smith released two singles, "Bad Day All Week" in 2008 and "When It's Alright" in 2009.[26]
Career
2012–2016: In the Lonely Hour
Smith was featured on the Disclosure song "Latch", which was released on 8 October 2012 and peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. In February 2013, Smith released the first single from their debut album, "Lay Me Down", and later in the year featured on Naughty Boy's single "La La La". It was released on 19 May 2013 and peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Smith's first EP Nirvana was released the following year. The first song on the EP, titled "Safe with Me", is produced by Two Inch Punch and was first broadcast on MistaJam's BBC Radio 1Xtra show on 24 July 2013.[27] The second song on the EP is titled "Nirvana" and is produced by Craze & Hoax and Jonathan Creek. The EP also includes Smith's acoustic solo version of "Latch" and a live version of "I've Told You Now".[28] Smith released the Disclosure, Nile Rodgers, and Jimmy Napes collaboration "Together" on 25 November 2013 as the only single from Settle: The Remixes. In December 2013, Smith was nominated for the 2014 Brit Critics' Choice Award and the BBC's Sound of 2014 poll,[29][30] winning both.[31][32]
Personal life
In May 2014, Smith came out to the public as gay and acknowledged they had been in a brief relationship with actor and model Jonathan Zeizel.[102][103] In 2015, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards when "Stay with Me" won an award for Record of the Year, they said, "I want to thank the man who this record is about, who I fell in love with last year. Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys!"[104] In October 2017, Smith stated that their latest album, The Thrill of It All, showed "the gay guy I've become".[105] In September 2017, Smith revealed a relationship with actor Brandon Flynn in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In June 2018, it was announced that Smith and Flynn had split after nine months of dating.[106]
In October 2017, Smith came out as genderqueer,[107] saying, "I feel just as much a woman as I am a man"[105] and speaking of a period in their youth where they "didn't own a piece of male clothing and would wear full makeup while attending school".[108][109] In September 2019, they came out as non-binary and changed their pronouns to they/them, stating, "After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I've decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out..."[7][8]
Smith has struggled with body image issues since preteen years and been open about this in interviews.[19] They identify as a feminist.[110]
Smith is the godparent of close friend and collaborator Jimmy Napes's son.[111]
