Sam Smith Page 4

Sam Smith had a pretty good day on Tuesday (8th September). The 23-year-old ‘Stay With Me’ singer won the GQ Solo Artist of the Year award and also announced he’s singing the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Spectre.

Sam Smith at the 2015 GQ Man of the Year Awards in London.

See More Pictures From The 2015 GQ Man Of The Year Awards.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Receives GQ’s Solo Artist Of The Year Award, Hours After Announcing ‘Spectre’ Theme Song

Sam Smith has confirmed he is singing the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, Spectre. Smith made the announcement on Instagram, with an image of the cover of his soon-to-be-released single entitled ‘Writing’s On The Wall’. Smith has also co-written the song along with his frequent collaborator Jimmy Napes.

Sam Smith at a private view of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the V&A in London, March 2015.

Read More: Sam Smith Shares Homophobic Instagram Account To Highlight Bullying.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Announces His ‘Spectre’ Theme Song: ‘Writing’s On The Wall’

Sam Smith has dropped a pretty powerful hint that he’s recorded the theme tune to the forthcoming Bond movie Spectre. The British singer, one of the best-selling artists around the world last year, posted a picture of his hand bearing a plain silver band embossed with the ‘Spectre’ octopus symbol.

The 23 year old has been one of the most prominent names bandied about in the rumours about who’ll get the honour of recorded the theme song to the 24th Bond movie, which is being released in cinemas on October 26th. However, fellow Brit Ellie Goulding had been the bookies’ favourite until this revelation.

Is Sam Smith recording the theme song for 'Spectre'?

Continue reading: Is Sam Smith Singing The Theme Song For 'Spectre'?

Award-winning artist Sam Smith has shared a screengrab of a social media account which was set up to troll the singer with abusive, homophobic comments. Smith shared the Instagram account named ‘Gay Sam Smith’ to draw attention to the homophobia which is still prevalent in society today.

Sam Smith has shared an image of a homophobic Instagram account to highlight online bullying.

"This genuinely doesn’t offend me, coz I’m way too tick (sic) skinned when it comes to this kind of shit. BUT I just wanted to share this with everyone, so you can see how homophobic is still SO PRESENT in our society!!” Smith said sharing the screengrab.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Shares Homophobic Instagram Account To Highlight Bullying

Ellie Goulding seems to have dropped her biggest hint yet that she’ll be singing the theme song for the upcoming James Bond movie Spectre.

The 28 year old British singer posted a photo on Instagram of herself leaving the legendary Abbey Road recording studios in North London on Monday night (July 27th), writing “That’s a wrap!” as a caption. Soon afterwards, bookmakers began suspending betting on the odds of her singing the soundtrack, on which she’s rumoured to be collaborating with fellow Brit Sam Smith.

Ellie Goulding is favourite to sing the theme song to 'Spectre'

Continue reading: Ellie Goulding Is The Favourite To Sing James Bond 'Spectre' Theme

Having had a global smash hit with ‘Latch’ in 2012 which helped him launch his multi-platinum-selling career, Sam Smith has reunited with British dance act Disclosure for another single.

Disclosure released the music video for brand new single ‘Omen’ on Monday morning (July 27th), the second to be taken from their eagerly awaited new album Caracal, which will be released on September 25th.

Sam Smith with Guy and Howard Lawrence of Disclosure

Continue reading: Sam Smith Teams Up With Disclosure Once More For 'Omen'

An audience watching Sam Smith perform at Forecastle Festival on Friday (17th July) had to be evacuated because of extreme weather conditions. It was the first day of the festival in Louisville, Kentucky and the organisers made the decision, in the face of high winds and heavy rain, to cut short the performances and evacuate the whole festival. The British singer was 35 minutes into his set when the area was evacuated.

Sam Smith performing in Amsterdam in March 2015.

Continue reading: Sam Smith’s Audience At Forecastle Festival Evacuated Because Of Extreme Weather Conditions

Sam Smith has turned to designing and modelling. The 23-year-old British singer has collaborated with Balenciaga for their upcoming Autumn/Winter collection. He announced the collaboration to his fans on Instagram on Wednesday (15th July) and the European fashion house confirmed the news on Thursday.

Sam Smith at a private viewing of Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the V&A, London in March 2015.

Read More: Sam Smith Admits He's "Scared" Of Getting Back Onstage.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Teams Up With Balenciaga For Their A/W Line, Stars In Sultry Campaign Video & Photos

Seemingly not content with his domination of the charts in both Britain and the States, Sam Smith is extending his talents into the world of fashion with the announcement that he’s to create his own clothing line.

The multi-Grammy and Brit Award winner revealed that he would be collaborating with designers at Balenciaga, posting the news via his Instagram account in a short video on Wednesday evening (July 15th). The short clip indicates that the 23 year old singer won’t just be modelling, but also actively involved with the design.

Bearing the hashtag #BALXSAMSMITH, it shows Smith walking slowly towards the camera wearing glasses and his recognisable quiff. He asked his followers: “Ladies and gentlemen. The time has come for my first ever collaboration with a fashion house. You ready?”

Continue reading: Sam Smith Designing Men's Clothing Range

He’s been one of the best-selling and successful artists in the world over the last twelve months, but Sam Smith has admitted to being “scared” about getting back on the stage and performing after his vocal cord operation a few months ago.

The multi-platinum singer was speaking to Kiss FM and was asked whether he felt nervous ahead of his world tour resuming this summer. “I am. I'm scared. If anyone's listening I'm really going to try my absolute best, but I am scared though. It's quite intense to go into. But I love what I do and I wanted to do it, and hopefully I can hold it all together and perform every show.”

Sam Smith had vocal cord surgery in May

Continue reading: Sam Smith Admits He's "Scared" Of Getting Back Onstage

One Direction and Ed Sheeran led a record breaking year for British artists in 2014, who had five of the top 10 best-selling albums worldwide. More than one in seven albums sold worldwide last year were by British artists, giving them a record 13.7% share of the global market.

One Direction’s Four was the highest selling British album of 2014.

One Direction led the way with Four, which was the biggest-selling album by a UK artist in 2014, with 3.2 million in global sales. The boyband came in second over all and were only beaten by Taylor Swift’s 1989 which sold six million copies worldwide.

Continue reading: One Direction And Ed Sheeran Lead As Five Of 2014's Biggest Selling Albums Are By British Artists

British singer Sam Smith has secured his place in chart history, after achieving a record-breaking milestone previously managed only by the Beatles. The singer has become the only artist since the fab five to spend nearly a year in the top five with a debut album thanks to his massively successful, In The Lonely Hour.

Sam Smith has made chart history with In The Lonely Hour.

The singer’s debut album has so far spent 50 weeks in the top five of the UK album chart, according to the Official Charts Company. That’s only one week short of The Beatles’ record, as they managed 51 weeks on the chart with Please Please Me in 1963.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Joins The Beatles In Making Chart History With 'In The Lonely Hour'

It's the first ever Red Nose Day in the United States today (May 21st 2015), and all manner of celebrities are donning the appropriate big red nose to raise awareness. It's one of the UK's most famous charity fundraisers - undertaken mainly for Comic Relief - but this year goes international for a host of charitable foundations.

David Duchovny, 5 Seconds of Summer, John Legend, Sam Smith and Padma Lakshmi on Red Nose Day

Annoyingly, curvy reality star Kim Kardashian is now so good at posing in front of a camera that she even manages to maintain that seductive aura even while holding a novelty clown nose to her face, but many other celebrities provided some well needed laughs on this momentous occasion. 

Continue reading: Red Nose Day America Is Here! And These Stars Are Rocking The Look [Photos]

British superstar Sam Smith has undergone successful vocal cord surgery in Boston and is expected to make a complete recovery, it has been reported.

Massachusetts General Hospital released a statement on Tuesday (May 19th) that read: “Sam Smith underwent vocal cord microsurgery by Dr. Steven Zeitels to stop recurrent vocal cord hemorrhage (bleeding). This condition is the result of unstable blood vessels in the vocal cord that can rupture and prevent vocal performance.”

Sam Smith has had successful surgery on his vocal cords

Continue reading: Sam Smith Has Successful Throat Surgery

At last night’s Billboard Awards, Taylor Swift reached a new milestone in her career, becoming the award show’s most decorated artist. Her eight awards (out of 14 nods), including one for Best Artist, bring her Billboard total to twenty, more than the previous record holder, Garth Brooks.

All of the awards.

Taylor had more than one reason to celebrate on Sunday though, since the award show coincided with the release of her music video for Bad Blood, featuring the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Zendaya, Ellie Goulding, Hayley Williams and many more. The video premiered at the awards, after a brief introduction from the woman of the hour. Taylor also won a special achievement award chosen by fan voting.

Continue reading: Billboard Awards: Taylor Swift Wins All Of The Things

It's not often a simple music video receives this much hype before anyone has even seen it - but the video for Taylor Swift's new single 'Bad Blood' looks to be anything but simple. It's a celebrity-packed spectacle with a Sin City-like visual style, and Swift has just revealed the lead actress at the centre of all the drama is Selena Gomez, playing a femme fatale named Arsyn.

Girl power: Swift teams up with other female stars in Bad Blood

Selena Gomez joins Swift (who plays Catastrophe) and a long list of other female stars in the video, including Gigi Hadid (as Slay-Z), Hayley Williams (The Crimson Curse), Ellie Goulding (Destructa X), Lena Dunham (Lucky Fiori) and Jessica Alba (Domino).

Continue reading: Taylor Swift Teases 'Bad Blood' Video One Final Time

As was widely expected, folk-turned-rock group Mumford & Sons have raced to the top of the American Billboard charts, selling nearly 150% more than its nearest rival in the process. Wilder Mind, their third album, sold 249,000 copies in its first week to claim the Number 1 spot, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The figure isn’t anywhere near as large as the first week sales for their last record Babel, which shifted a whopping 600,000 units back in 2012, and remains the biggest sales week for a guitar album this decade.

Mumford & Sons top the Billboard Albums chart once more

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Score Second U.S. Chart Topping Album

Less than a fortnight after revealing that he’s had to cancel a number of Australian tour dates to have surgery on his vocal cords, Sam Smith has now revealed that he’s suffering from stress.

The 22 year old singer, who is still riding a massive wave of publicity with the success of his debut album In The Lonely Hour worldwide, told The Sun that he had developed a rash on his body in response to the high stress levels that he’s been working under.

“I've been itching all over my body for the past week from stress,” he said. “I'm stressed. I don't know why. I think it's a delayed reaction from the Grammys.”

Continue reading: Sam Smith Is Suffering From Stress

Being a multi-million selling popstar might sound like a dream, but in truth it's not as comfortable a life as it may seem. Sam Smith is living proof of that as he now prepares to undergo throat surgery after pretty much continued touring since the start of the year.

Sam Smith cancels more dates over throat problems

It's obvious that Sam Smith is an extremely hard-working individual, but unfortunately, his hectic schedule has forced him to cancel yet more dates on his first headline tour supporting debut album 'In the Lonely Hour'. Last month, fans everywhere were disappointed to learn that Smith had suffered a mild haemorrhage on his vocal chords and therefore would have to rest his voice for a few dates in a bid to heal them. However, things have gone from bad to worse and he now has to suspend his tour for the next six to eight weeks.

Continue reading: 'Nervous' Sam Smith Suspends Tour For Throat Operation

The line-up for the 2015 Billboard Music Awards was already very impressive, with Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith all set to perform on stage, and officials have now filled a (blank) space by confirming Taylor Swift will be there to debut the video for her new track 'Bad Blood', according to Hollywood Reporter. 

And the singer has teased the premiere of the forthcoming video with a stylish image on Twitter.

Continue reading: Taylor Swift To Open Billboard Music Awards With New Video

There’s change at the top of the American albums chart this week as the Zac Brown Band enters at Number 1 with its fourth LP Jekyll + Hyde.

The eight piece ensemble notched up their third consecutive Billboard chart topper by selling 228,000 copies, including track equivalent and streaming equivalent sales, in the week ending May 3rd, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

These are impressive sales figures for the group, which previously had Number 1 albums in 2012 with Uncaged and 2010 with You Get What You Give. Jekyll + Hyde contains two popular singles already, one being the Chris Cornell collaboration ‘Heavy is the Head’ and the other the country-flavoured ‘Homegrown’.

Continue reading: Third Straight Number One Album For The Zac Brown Band

The biggest selling single of the year so far has seen a significant change to its writing credits. Mark Ronson’s record-breaking ‘Uptown Funk!’ now includes the writers of The Gap Band’s 1979 hit ‘Oops Up Side Your Head’.

It’s not clear as to how this alteration came about – there have been no court cases or lawsuits in the offing – but five extra names are now included on Ronson’s hit, according to Music Week. They are The Gap Band’s three members Ronnie Wilson, Charles Wilson and Robert Wilson as well as producers Lonnie Simmons and Rudolph Taylor.

Mark Ronson has altered the writing credits for 'Uptown Funk!'

Continue reading: 'Uptown Funk!'s Writing Credits Changed To Include The Gap Band

Rock group Alabama Shakes scored their first Number One album in America with their second effort Sound & Color, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In quite a low-selling week, the rockers sold 96,000 copies of their sophomore effort to reach the top spot in the Billboard 200 chart. The reformed system counts track equivalent sales and streaming equivalent sales, though some 91,000 of Sound & Color’s sales total came from traditional physical sales.

Alabama Shakes’ debut album Boys & Girls won the group a lot of plaudits upon its release in 2012 for its classic rock sound. It peaked at Number 6 in the American charts, nearly a year after its release, due to its three Grammy nominations in 2013.

Continue reading: Alabama Shakes Rock To The Top Of The Billboard Albums Chart

Sam Smith has been forced to cancel the remainder of his Australian tour dates, after suffering a vocal chord haemorrhage. The singer had been due to perform shows in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, as well as appearing at the Logie Awards next week.

Smith has been forced to cancel his Australian shows.

“I am deeply, deeply saddened to tell my Australian fans, I have to cancel my Australian tour,” Smith announced in a statement. “I have been vocally exhausted for a while now however last night in Sydney i had a small haemorrhage on my vocal chords.”

Continue reading: Sam Smith Cancels Rest Of Australian Tour Due Vocal Chord Haemorrhage

Internet sensation Shawn Mendes has completed his rise from a cult following on Vine to chart-topping sensation, as his full-length debut album has entered at Number 1 in the Billboard Top 200. Handwritten sold 119,000 units, including track and streaming album equivalent sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

16 year old Mendes is the youngest person to top the American album charts since 2010, when Justin Bieber – six months younger then than Mendes is now – spent a month at Number 1 with My World 2.0.

Shawn Mendes has scored his first Number 1 album with his debut 'Handwritten'

Continue reading: Shawn Mendes Scores US Chart Topper With Debut Album 'Handwritten'

Some of the biggest British stars of the last year are in the running for 2015’s Ivor Novello Awards. Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’, George Ezra’s ‘Budapest’ and Clean Bandit’s ‘Rather Be’ are all nominated for the most played song of the past year.

The annual awards, which are now in their 60th year, are exclusively voted for by songwriters, making it a rare example of musicians being recognised by their peers instead of by the public. ‘The Ivors’ is a comparatively short and exclusive list of categories, with only three nominations in each.

Sam Smith's 'Stay With Me' is up for Most Performed Work at the 2015 Ivor Novellos

Continue reading: Ivor Novello Awards 2015: Sam Smith, Clean Bandit And George Ezra All Nominated

It’s all change at the top of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart this week, as rapper Wale claims the Number 1 spot with his fourth LP The Album About Nothing – his second chart topper following his previous effort, 2013’s The Gifted.

Wale’s album, which he has revealed was inspired by Jerry Seinfeld and features the comedian himself, sold 100,000 copies in the week ending April 5th, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Billboard chart now measures individual track and streaming equivalent sales as well as conventional physical and digital album sales.

The rapper scored his second American Number 1 album this week

Continue reading: Wale Scores Second U.S. Number 1 With 'The Album About Nothing'

The nominations have been released for the annual Billboard Music Awards, and it’s Taylor Swift and Sam Smith who lead the field, with both artists in the running for five of the six biggest prizes.

Swift and Smith, whose respective albums 1989 and In The Lonely Hour are still in the Top 5 of the Billboard Albums Chart well over four months after their release, are both gunning for the Top Artist, Top 100 Songs, Top Billboard 200 Album, Top Billboard 200 Artist and Top Hot 100 Artists categories, while each is up for the Top Artist in their gender-specific prizes.

Taylor Swift scored the most BMA nominations with 14

Continue reading: Taylor Swift And Sam Smith Score Multiple Nominations For Billboard Music Awards

In a quiet week on the US Billboard 200, Kendrick Lamar’s new album To Pimp A Butterfly spends a second week in the Number One spot. The rapper’s third album sold more than double the amount of its nearest rival, the soundtrack to TV drama ‘Empire’, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Shifting 123,000 copies in its second week on sale, including track and streaming equivalent sales figures as well as physical copies, To Pimp A Butterfly is the first album to spend its opening fortnight at the top of the chart since Taylor Swift’s behemoth 1989 at the end of last year. The ‘Empire’ soundtrack was a non-mover in second place, selling 61,000 copies.

Kendrick Lamar spends a second week on top of the US Albums chart

Continue reading: Kendrick Lamar Spends Second Week At The Top Of U.S. Albums Chart

Hip hop sensation Kendrick Lamar has stormed to Number 1 in the US Billboard 200 Albums chart with his third album To Pimp A Butterfly. It clocked up over 363,000 equivalent sales (totalling physical, track and streaming data) despite being released one week earlier than planned, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

To Pimp A Butterfly has the second highest first-week sales of 2015, behind fellow rapper Drake’s recent surprise release If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, which sold 495,000 in its debut week back in February.

Kendrick Lamar is Number 1 in the US Billboard 200 albums

Continue reading: Kendrick Lamar Scores First US Number 1 Album With 'To Pimp A Butterfly'

Outside Lands organisers have finally unveiled the spectacular 2015 line-up for their eighth year, featuring headliners Elton John and Mumford And Sons. The event is set to bring its usual combination of music and munchies to San Francisco this August.

Joining Elton and Mumford are a range of equally exciting acts, both of the veteran and the up-and-coming variety. Man of the moment Sam Smith - whose already bagged a total of six awards this year, including four Grammys - will bring his pop genius to the stage, alongside The Black Keys who released their first chart-topping album last year, and Kendrick Lamar whose highly anticipated third album 'To Pimp A Butterfly' sailed to number one in both the US and the UK last week.

Continue reading: Sound And Sustenance: Outside Lands 2015 Brings Another Weekend Of Cultural Delights

The BBC has announced that their long running top 40 chart show is moving from its traditional Sunday afternoon slot to Friday evening, as a global release date for singles and albums comes into effect. As well as the change of days, the show will also be shorter, meaning that not all songs will be played during the run down.

Artist such as Sam Smith will now hear their official UK chart position on a Friday

From June, Friday will become the global release date for singles and albums, as announced by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the worldwide record industry, last month.

Continue reading: Radio One's Official Chart Show Moves To Fridays, As UK Falls In Line With Global Music Industry

Locals My Morning Jacket lead the line-up for Forecastle Festival 2015, as the first selection of acts entice more and more towards a sun-soaked weekend in Louisville, Kentucky this July. The band will also be joined by Brit singer Sam Smith.

Hot on the heels of their latest album announcement 'The Waterfall', My Morning Jacket return to their hometown for a jam down by Waterfront Park this summer, alongside British superstar Sam Smith who is looking at his most successful year yet with four Grammy wins, a sell-out tour and a number one already with his re-released debut single 'Lay Me Down' featuring John Legend.

Continue reading: My Morning Jacket Return To Louisville For Forecastle Festival 2015 Alongside Sam Smith

Kendrick Lamar has taken the top spot in this week’s Official Albums Chart in the UK, knocking Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour off the number one position. To Pimp A Butterfly is the third studio album from the Compton- born rapper, following on from 2012's Good Kid, MAAD City.

Cover art for Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly

The album caught fans off guard after it was made available March 16th on iTunes and Spotify, nearly a week before its original release date of March 23rd. Since becoming available on Spotify the album has broken the service’s global streaming recording, notching up over 9.6 million streams on the service last Monday.

Continue reading: 'To Pimp A Butterfly' Gives Kendrick Lamar His First UK Number 1 Album

Sam Smith has scored a rare ‘double Number 1’ in the UK’s Official Charts this week. His recent single ‘Lay Me Down’ sits atop the UK Singles Chart and his debut LP In The Lonely Hour has returned to the summit of the Official Albums Chart as well.

A re-recording of ‘Lay Me Down’ as a duet with soul singer John Legend was released as the official Comic Relief / Red Nose Day single for 2015, and his live performance of it on Friday night helped it achieve sales of 105,000. The song dislodged last week’s Number One ‘King’, by newcomers Years & Years.

Sam Smith sits atop both the UK Albums and Singles chart

Continue reading: Sam Smith Scores Rare 'Double Number 1' With Album And New Single

Sam Smith has taken the top spot in both the official UK singles and albums chart this week, along with setting a new record as the only male solo artist whose album has achieved six different spells at number one in Official Chart history.

Sam Smith is doing the double in this week's UK chart

Smith’s In the Lonely Hour reclaimed the top spot in the album chart this week, knocking Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds’ Chasing Yesterday down to fourth place. The singer managed to beat off some tough competition to grab the top spot, including the latest offering from Madonna, Rebel Heart, which debut in the number two position.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Tops Both The Official UK Singles And Albums Chart

Sam Smith was arguably the music industry's biggest breakout star of 2014, which is proven by the fact that the British singer won four major awards at this year's Grammys, but his journey to success wasn't as easy as people may assume.

Smith recently opened up about being bullied as a youth

Sam first came out at only aged 11 and he quickly experienced what it was like to be picked on for being a homosexual.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Opens Up About His "Mortifying" Homophobic Bullying Experiences

Sam Smith is set to perform a special re-recording of his debut single, 'Lay Me Down', with Oscar winner John Legend for this year's Comic Relief, which will air on BBC One this week under the title 'Comic Relief: Face the Funny'.

Sam Smith and John Legend re-record 'Lay Me Down' for Comic Relief

It may not be among his Platinum selling singles, but Sam Smith is keen to express his attachment to his moving first single. He has re-recorded a rendition of 'Lay Me Down' with John Legend as the official single for Comic Relief, with all proceeds from the sales going to the charity campaign.

Continue reading: Sam Smith And John Legend Duet For Comic Relief's Version Of 'Lay Me Down'

Rapper Big Sean has claimed his first Billboard chart topper with his new album Dark Sky Paradise. His third album beat Kid Rock’s latest offering First Kiss to the top spot by 27,000 units in the week ending March 1st, according to figures by Nielsen SoundScan.

Dark Sky Paradise moved 173,000 units in its first week on sale, a combination of traditional physical sales and track and streaming equivalents. Both of his previous albums, 2011’s Finally Famous and 2013’s Hall of Fame, both entered at Number 3.

Rapper Big Sean has the U.S. Number 1 selling album this week 

Continue reading: Big Sean Scores First Number 1 With Album 'Dark Sky Paradise'

Calvin Harris and Kasabian have been announced as headliners for this year's V Festival. The Scottish DJ and Leicester rockers were head up the bill at Hylands Park and Weston Park and will be joined by Sam Smith, James Bay, Ellie Goulding, The Script, George Ezra, Stereophonics, Olly Murs, Ella Henderson, Kodaline and Cvhrches.

Kasabian will headline this year's V Festival 

Simon Moran, V Festival director, said: "We wanted to champion British talent at this year's festival and with the likes of Calvin and Kasabian leading the way we don't think it'll disappoint. The eclectic mix of established artists and rising stars, with a few more in the pipeline, means that once again there is something for everyone at V Festival."

Continue reading: Calvin Harris And Kasabian To Headline V Festival 2015