Sam Sparro - No Overnight Sensation

Feature, By Andrew Weaver, 3rd July, 2008

With one of the biggest hits of the year, Sam Sparro has come out all guns blazing with his debut self-titled album. But when you release a single as fully realised and made for listening to like Black And Gold, how can you not have one of the biggest hits of the year on your hands?

Having called Australia home as a child, then moving to the United States, and then being signed to his label out of the UK, Sam Sparro has become something of a nomad. “Home is wherever I am really,” he offers. “London has been home to me before, and it’s one of my homes – I’m quite comfortable to be here, and it’s always good to be in London.”

It was, unsurprisingly, a rougher version of Black And Gold that brought Sam to the attention of Island UK, with his original independent version gaining spot rotation on Los Angeles indie radio stations, where he was living at the time. “The UK picked up on it,” Sam explains of how he came to the attention of his label, “and then I got lots of phone calls from big labels in the UK and there was a big interest all of a sudden. It was always something that I’d hoped would happen… and then it did! It’s been brilliant really.”

Now that Sam has had one of the hits of the year in Britain, it makes logical sense for him to go ‘home’ and tackle the United States. “I think it definitely helps,” he says of riding the wave of hype that Sam Sparro has generated. “A lot of tastemakers in America rely heavily on tips from the UK, so when a record does well over here it makes it easier to go to America. Especially at the moment – it seems that there’s another British invasion happening. It’s been good for me, and I’ve been getting lots of interest from the States.”

The album itself will appear in a slightly different guise when it’s released in the United States, with a different tracklisting. It will, undoubtedly, lead to a slightly different ‘flavour’ for the record. “There’s one track that isn’t on the UK, and one less track from the UK release, on the US version,” Sam explains. “It really came down to a bit of a political decision – but I’m really happy with it. [The US release] may be a bit more appropriate. It’ll also make those crazy people that are obsessed buy two copies of the album!” Sam says with a chuckle.

While Sam’s soulful voice is definitely distinctive, so is his look. “Well, my boyfriend is my stylist,” revealed Sparro to media earlier this year. “We’re both kind of fashion victims and we live in quite a creative part of Los Angeles, we have friends who are designers so it’s just part of our life and it’s what we like, we just love clothes… oh, we’re a couple of gays.” The pair have been together for almost two years. “He’s a painter so he just works whenever he wants, he does a lot of work for fashion as well – styling and photography.”

To an outsider looking in, it would seem that the Sam Sparro sensation has happened overnight. Naturally enough, it doesn’t feel that way to Sam – he’s been working and building and honing his craft since he can remember. “It was a really slow build until a certain point,” he says of his ascension into the mainstream. “I’ve been doing it for a long time and I’ve been writing and recording for years – I’ve had bands, and meetings with record labels throughout the last five years. But since I’ve signed with Island it feels like it’s taken off incredibly quickly; my life has changed completely in the last six months.”

Given the success that he started to generate as an independent artist, Sam admits that he did initially think about not signing to a major label, but instead forging ahead as an independent act. “Even though in this day and age you can do a lot for yourself, it’s really, really hard to sell records without the push of a big label, or a big independent,” he counters. “You certainly need somebody helping you with marketing and getting the word out there – you can’t do it all yourself. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now if I’d stayed just independent.”

He certainly might not have had the opportunity to work alongside producers and co-writers such as Eg White and Paul Epworth, who both contributed to the making of Sam Sparro. “Both those guys are quite different,” he says of his co-conspirators. “For me it was a new experience collaborating with people, because for the last 10 years I’ve been writing songs on my own. It was a stretch for me to learn how to collaborate in that sense.”

Sam Sparro’s self-titled debut is out now through Universal Music. His two intimate Aussie showcases – 11 July at Miss Libertine in Melbourne and 16 July at Oxford Art Factory in Sydney – have already sold out.

Check out Same Same’s review of Sam’s album by clicking here.

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