Sam Smith's debut album was Britain's best-selling first album of the 2010s
Sam Smith broke through as a featured voice on Disclosure's Latch in 2012. Two years later their debut album, In the Lonely Hour, swept four Grammys and became the UK's top-selling debut of the decade. Later came an Oscar for a Bond theme and a historic US number one with Unholy.
Born in London on 19 May 1992, Smith was raised in the Cambridgeshire village of Great Chishill; their mother, Kate Cassidy, worked as a broker, and their father is Frederick Smith. The singer Lily Allen is a third cousin. Bullied as a child, they sang in jazz bands before joining Youth Music Theatre UK, appearing in its 2007 show Oh! Carol, built on Neil Sedaka songs. For years they studied singing and songwriting with jazz pianist Joanna Eden, joined youth choirs and a junior operatic society in Bishop's Stortford, and released two little-noticed singles in 2008 and 2009.
Latch reached number 11 in the UK, and a guest vocal on Naughty Boy's La La La went to number one in 2013. In the Lonely Hour, released by Capitol in 2014, entered the UK chart at the top, and its single Stay with Me reached number one in Britain and number two in America. Grammy voters handed Smith four awards for it, among them the prizes for top record, top song and newcomer of the year.
Writing's on the Wall, the theme for the 2015 Bond film Spectre, earned both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Thrill of It All topped the British and American album charts in 2017, led by Too Good at Goodbyes. Collaborations with Calvin Harris and Normani preceded the album Love Goes in 2020, and in 2022 Unholy, with Kim Petras, gave Smith a first US number one and a Grammy for pop duo or group performance, ahead of the 2023 album Gloria.
Their haul includes five Grammys and three Brits. Across the 2010s only Ed Sheeran, Adele and Eminem spent more weeks at number one on the UK albums chart. Smith is also the first openly non-binary musician to have a Billboard Hot 100 number one and to win a Grammy.
Source: Sam Smith
