Who is Sam Smith? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In May

Also Known As: Samuel Frederick Smith

Age: 31 Years, 31 Year Old Males

Family:

father: Frederick Smith

mother: Kate Cassidy

Musicians Pop Singers

Height: 6'2" (188 cm), 6'2" Males

City: London, England

Notable Alumni: British Youth Music Theatre

More Facts

education: British Youth Music Theatre

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Childhood & Early Life

Sam Smith was born Samuel Frederick Smith on May 19, 1992 in Bishop’s Stortford, England to Fredrick Smith and Kate Cassidy, who is a stock broker.

He attended the ‘St. Mary’s Catholic School’ located in Bishop’s Stortford.

At the age of 8 he learnt singing under a jazz pianist named Joanna Eden at Saffron Walden in Essex and later joined a jazz band.

He started singing from a very early age and joined the ‘Cantate Youth Choir’ and the ‘Bishop’s Stortford Junior Operatics’ which later came to be known as ‘Bishop’s Stortford Musical Theater Society’.

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Career

Sam Smith got his first break when his single ‘Latch’ was released on October 8, 2012. The single immediately hit the eleventh in the ‘UK Singles Chart’.

His future as a singing sensation got a further push with his debut album titled ‘Lay Me Down’ in February, 2013.

On May 1, 2013 ‘Naughty Boy’ provided musical accompaniment to his single ‘La La La’ which attained the top spot in the ‘UK Singles Chart’ that year.

Sam released his first EP titled ‘Nirvana’ also in 2013. It consisted of four tracks ‘Safe With Me’, ‘Nirvana’, Latch and ‘I’ve Told You.’

On July 24, 2013 the first song ‘Safe With Me’ was broadcast for the first time on the ‘BBC Radio 1Xtra’ show conducted by ‘Mistajam’.

On December 27, 2013 Amazon.com declared that it was offering the track ‘I’ve Told You Now’ sang by Sam at the ‘St. Pancras Old Church’ as a free promotional download from the internet.

On February, 2014 Sam Smith came out with his second album ‘Money on My Mind’ which hugely boosted his image as an emerging singer.

He released his first studio album ‘In the Lonely Hour’ on May 26, 2014 with the help of ‘Capitol Records’. The album was based on his unrequited love life and achieved the top position in the ‘UK Albums Chart’ immediately. It also attained the second position on the ‘Billboard 200’ in America and sold record copies in America by November 2014 and the UK by January 2015.

Not to be outdone by Amazon.com, ‘iTunes Store’ too started offering the track ‘Make It To Me’ as a free promotional download from the internet from January 13, 2014.

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Smith went on his first American tour in the spring of 2014 with his huge repertoire of new and old hits.

The 92nd issue of the magazine ‘The Fader’ published in June 2014 featured Smith on its cover page and his single ‘Stay With Me’ was declared as the ‘Song of Summer’ by the Variance Magazine in August 2014.

The single ‘Lay Me Down’ took the eighth position from the top in the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ chart when it was re-released in March 2015.

Another version of the same song sung by him at the ‘Comic Relief’ charity telethon in the UK became the number one hit in the country.

The single ‘Omen’ with Smith on the vocals and ‘Disclosure’ on instruments was released on July 27, 2015.

On September 8, 2015 Smith corroborated the fact that he had collaborated with Jimmy Napes to compose the theme song ‘Writings On The Wall’ for the 24th James Bond film ‘Spectre’ which hit the top spot in the charts in the UK.

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TV And Live Performances

Sam Smith made his first appearance on the TV across America on January 20, 2014 when he performed his hit single ‘Latch’ accompanied by ‘Disclosure’ on electronic musical instruments at the ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’ show.

His second TV appearance was on March 29, 2014 when he performed another of his singles ‘Stay With Me’ on the show ‘Saturday Night Live’.

He performed his first live show at the ‘2014 MTV Video Music Awards’ held at ‘The Forum’ located in Inglewood in California on August 24, 2014.

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Smith joined a group of Irish and British groups including ‘Band Aid 30’ who had come together to raise funds for the treatment of victims of the ‘2014 Ebola crisis’ which had occurred in western Africa. The joint group recorded a track titled ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ by performing at the ‘Sam West Studio’ located in Notting Hill in London.

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Awards & Achievements

Sam Smith won eight nominations for his performance at the ‘57th Annual Grammy Awards’ ceremony held on February 8, 2015 at ‘Staples Center’ in Los Angeles. He won three of the ‘Grammy Awards’ including ‘Record of the Year, ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Song of the Year’ for his single ‘Stay With Me’ and one ‘Grammy Award’ of ‘Best Vocal Album’ for the studio album ‘In The Lonely Hour’.

On February 25, 2015 he won the ‘British Breakthrough Award’ for the single ‘Lay Me Down’ at the ‘2015 Brit Awards’ competition held at ‘The O2 Arena’ in London, England.

He received the ‘Top New Artist’, the ‘Top Male Artist’ and the ‘Top Radio Songs Artist’ awards at the ‘2015 Billboard Music Awards’ function held on May 17, 2015.

On October 19, 2015 he won the ‘Guinness World Record’ award for composing the theme song of ‘Spectre’ which reached the number one spot in the ‘UK Charts’ and a second ‘Guinness World Record’ award for the album ‘In The Lonely Hour’ which remained in the ‘UK Top Ten’ chart for the maximum number of consecutive weeks.

The ‘Award for Best Original Song’ was presented to him for ‘Writings On The Wall’ at the ‘73rd Golden Globe Awards’ function held on January 6, 2016.

He received an ‘Academy Award’ nomination for ‘Best Original Song’ and a ‘2016 Brit Awards’ nomination for ‘Best British Video’ on January 14, 2016 for the same song.

On February 28, 2016 Smith was awarded the ‘Best Original Song’ award for ‘Writings On The Wall’ at the ‘Academy Awards’ function.

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Personal Life & Legacy

Sam Smith got embroiled in a court case in October 2014 when Tom Petty raised an objection about similar use of words and phrases from his song ‘I Won’t Back Down’ which he had recorded in 1999 in the single ‘Stay With Me’. An out-of-court settlement was made by Sam according to which Petty would get 12.5 percent of the royalties from the sale of the copies of ‘Stay With Me’.

2015	Best New Artist	Winner
2015	Best Pop Vocal Album	Winner
2015	Song of the Year	Winner
2015	Record of the Year	Winner

Sam Smith Biography