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Sam Smith: The Biography
Sam Smith's debut album, In the Lonely Hour , sold four million copies and won four 2015 Grammy awards. In 2016, he won an Oscar for Best Original Song. The young, soulful singer has massive crossover appeal, with his touching honesty about loneliness, love, and his own sexuality coming through in both his music and interviews. While the media largely painted Smith as an "overnight success story," Sam The Biography shows the hard work that Smith put in for over a decade. Joe Allan is the author of 5 Seconds of The Unauthorized Biography and Chris The Biography .
- GenresBiography
284 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 7, 2017
Sam Smith is basically a sensation, we all know this. He's sung the songs and won the Grammys. He's sold a crazy number of albums and had several #1 hits--and he hasn't even hit 25 yet. Most importantly, his music is just plain good. I remember part of the speech that Smith gave when he accepted his first Grammy. He said, "It was only when I started to be myself that the music started to flow and people started to listen." I already knew and loved his work by that point, but after hearing him say that, I became interested in knowing his story, too. So I was looking forward to reading his biography.
This book obviously does give information on Smith's life before stardom--his parents, his upbringing, his days at school, his rise to fame, etc. I liked learning about Smith, not so much because he's had a crazy remarkable life, but really more because he's a genuinely classy, kind, hardworking, resilient, and self-sufficient human being. To "know" Sam Smith is to love Sam Smith, plain and simple.
But I was still disappointed by the overall tone of this book. It doesn't have much personality and, instead, reads like one long Wikipedia article. There is lots of play-by-play of Smith's life with snippets from previous interviews thrown in, but all real conflicts and struggles are glossed over. The book flows well, the way a newspaper article flows well, but it's just as boring.
I'm a fan of Sam Smith, but if you're only interested in knowing the basic-level facts of his life as presented in this book, I would recommend that you save yourself some time and just read Smith's Wikipedia page instead.
This book obviously does give information on Smith's life before stardom--his parents, his upbringing, his days at school, his rise to fame, etc. I liked learning about Smith, not so much because he's had a crazy remarkable life, but really more because he's a genuinely classy, kind, hardworking, resilient, and self-sufficient human being. To "know" Sam Smith is to love Sam Smith, plain and simple.
But I was still disappointed by the overall tone of this book. It doesn't have much personality and, instead, reads like one long Wikipedia article. There is lots of play-by-play of Smith's life with snippets from previous interviews thrown in, but all real conflicts and struggles are glossed over. The book flows well, the way a newspaper article flows well, but it's just as boring.
I'm a fan of Sam Smith, but if you're only interested in knowing the basic-level facts of his life as presented in this book, I would recommend that you save yourself some time and just read Smith's Wikipedia page instead.
December 31, 2016
Like the Ed Sheeran book, I found this to be a rather dull read. Sure, Sam Smith has earned every accolade he's earned through his music, but I found this book on his life rather boring and certainly nothing spectacular that made me want to sit up and go "wow."
April 18, 2022
Read it in one sitting while listening to his songs. Enjoyable!
January 30, 2024
I enjoy it got know Sam bit more
November 27, 2016
This biography of Sam Smith, the British singer who has recently garnered an amazing collection of Grammys in one year, is fascinating if you like biographies.
On the other hand, the fact that the author was not able to get any direct quotes from Smith himself, and ends up relying on research and quotes from magazines and newspapers, was slightly disappointing to me.
It is as if the reader gets a third hand viewpoint when reading this book, well-written as it is.
The book begins with Smith's early life. He was in love with music and singing from day one. His parents understood that extra coaching would help him to realize his dreams, and hired an extremely wonderful tutor for him. Smith liked the singing styles of the great divas, and does to this day. He rarely veers too far from the magnificent falsetto he blows his audiences away with, although his other love, soul music, is, wonderfully, a part of his style as well.
The early part of the book discusses Smith and his family from when he was 8 until he was 18.
By the time he moved out and headed for London he was equipped with everything he needed to make it to the top. It would just be a question of luck and chance to find out if he had the stuff to pursue his passion.
The middle part of the book discusses his attempts to find good partners to work with. This section is particularly interesting if you like reading about the music business.
With his team, Sam is able to keep himself honest to his music and his "look", and keep trying.
He can hardly believe his good fortune when he reaches 2013 and 2014, however it is obvious he totally deserves all of his wins. Just listen to him and you'll see why.
The book ends with a brief mention of his 2016 Oscar win for best song for the James Bond movie, "Spectre".
I don't know if the publisher added that after the book was ready to go to print, however the songs from earlier years are definitely better and far more important as reflections of his personality.
If you want to read about a raw, dedicated, and honest musician, consider this biography of Sam Smith. He is like nobody else, and the author manages to illustrate that in this no nonsense chronicle. Sam Smith has only just begun telling his life story using music. What the future holds for him is in his own, very confident hands. He has grown up and it is going to be a real adventure to find out where his love of music leads him next.
On the other hand, the fact that the author was not able to get any direct quotes from Smith himself, and ends up relying on research and quotes from magazines and newspapers, was slightly disappointing to me.
It is as if the reader gets a third hand viewpoint when reading this book, well-written as it is.
The book begins with Smith's early life. He was in love with music and singing from day one. His parents understood that extra coaching would help him to realize his dreams, and hired an extremely wonderful tutor for him. Smith liked the singing styles of the great divas, and does to this day. He rarely veers too far from the magnificent falsetto he blows his audiences away with, although his other love, soul music, is, wonderfully, a part of his style as well.
The early part of the book discusses Smith and his family from when he was 8 until he was 18.
By the time he moved out and headed for London he was equipped with everything he needed to make it to the top. It would just be a question of luck and chance to find out if he had the stuff to pursue his passion.
The middle part of the book discusses his attempts to find good partners to work with. This section is particularly interesting if you like reading about the music business.
With his team, Sam is able to keep himself honest to his music and his "look", and keep trying.
He can hardly believe his good fortune when he reaches 2013 and 2014, however it is obvious he totally deserves all of his wins. Just listen to him and you'll see why.
The book ends with a brief mention of his 2016 Oscar win for best song for the James Bond movie, "Spectre".
I don't know if the publisher added that after the book was ready to go to print, however the songs from earlier years are definitely better and far more important as reflections of his personality.
If you want to read about a raw, dedicated, and honest musician, consider this biography of Sam Smith. He is like nobody else, and the author manages to illustrate that in this no nonsense chronicle. Sam Smith has only just begun telling his life story using music. What the future holds for him is in his own, very confident hands. He has grown up and it is going to be a real adventure to find out where his love of music leads him next.
December 15, 2015
I love Sam smith and his music, so it was obversely that i was going to read this book. I've found out a lot about Sam that I didn't knew before. BUT I don't like how the book is been written and the writer has also written about many other people in the book which I do not think he should have done, as much as he did.. But I like the book anyway and I'm excited to read the next book about Sam smith.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews