Sam Smith

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’.

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’.

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’.

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.

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.