Sam Smith’s career began with a guest vocal on Disclosure’s “Latch” and soon reached the top of the UK charts with Naughty Boy’s “La La La”. Their debut album, In the Lonely Hour, turned that early momentum into an international breakthrough. Since then, Smith has moved between soul-inflected ballads, dance-pop collaborations and the grand orchestral sound of a James Bond theme, while becoming a prominent non-binary artist in British popular music.
From Great Chishill to the first singles
Samuel Frederick Smith was born in London on 19 May 1992 and grew up in Great Chishill, Cambridgeshire. They attended Thomas More Primary School and St Mary’s Catholic School in Bishop’s Stortford. Singing and songwriting lessons with jazz pianist Joanna Eden, participation in the Cantate Youth Choir and Bishop’s Stortford Junior Operatics, and earlier experience in jazz bands helped shape their early musical life. As a teenager, Smith also performed in Youth Music Theatre UK’s 2007 production of Oh! Carol. They released two singles before their breakthrough, “Bad Day All Week” in 2008 and “When It’s Alright” in 2009.
In 2012, Smith featured on “Latch”, Disclosure’s electronic production that reached number 11 on the UK singles chart. The following year brought another important collaboration: their vocal on Naughty Boy’s “La La La” helped take the song to number one in the UK. Smith also released the EP Nirvana in 2013. That year, they won both the BRIT Critics’ Choice award and the BBC Sound of 2014 poll, early recognition of a solo career taking shape alongside their work with producers and groups.
In the Lonely Hour and a rapid rise
Smith’s debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in 2014. They described its subject as unrequited love, drawing on personal experience. The album reached number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard 200. Its songs established Smith as a solo performer as well as a sought-after collaborator. “Money on My Mind” became another UK number one, while “Stay with Me” reached number one in the UK and number two in the United States. “I’m Not the Only One” also reached the top five in the US and the top three in the UK.
The album brought Smith four Grammy Awards in 2015: Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Stay with Me”, and Best Pop Vocal Album for In the Lonely Hour. At the BRIT Awards that year, they won British Breakthrough Act and Global Success. “Lay Me Down”, re-released as a single, later reached number one in the UK in a version recorded with John Legend for Comic Relief. Smith also joined Band Aid 30, the charity group that recorded “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 2014 to raise money for the West African Ebola epidemic.
A Bond song and a second chart-topping album
In 2015, Smith and songwriter Jimmy Napes composed and recorded “Writing’s on the Wall” for Spectre. It became the first James Bond theme to reach number one in the UK. The song won a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song, which Smith and Napes collected together. For a British singer, writing and performing a Bond theme connected a contemporary pop career to a long-running British film series; the achievement rested on a specific song and its success, rather than on a general claim to represent the whole tradition.
Smith’s second album, The Thrill of It All, arrived in 2017 and topped both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. Its single “Too Good at Goodbyes” reached number one in the UK. Smith toured internationally from 2018 to 2019, taking the album to audiences across Europe, North America, Asia, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Their 2018 collaboration with Calvin Harris, “Promises”, also reached number one in the UK. In 2019, “Dancing with a Stranger”, recorded with Normani, became a top-ten single in both the UK and the United States.
New collaborations and a changing public profile
Smith released their third studio album, Love Goes, in 2020 after changing its title and track list. They performed a livestream concert from Abbey Road Studios in London on its release day; the performance was later issued as the live album Love Goes: Live at Abbey Road Studios. Other work in this period included “How Do You Sleep?”, “Diamonds” and “I’m Ready”, a collaboration with Demi Lovato.
In 2017, Smith spoke publicly about being non-binary; in 2019, they said they used they/them pronouns. Their openness about gender identity became a visible part of their public life as an artist. It is a more specific and supportable account of their significance than claims that they speak for all British culture: Smith’s career combines a substantial international audience with a public identity that has helped make non-binary representation more visible in mainstream music.
“Unholy”, Smith’s 2022 collaboration with German singer Kim Petras, reached number one in the UK and the United States, among other markets. It became Smith’s first US chart-topper, and the pair won the Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Smith’s fourth studio album, Gloria, followed in 2023, alongside an international tour. Their later work includes the 2023 Calvin Harris collaboration “Desire” and a performance at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024. The supplied Wikipedia text also lists Hazel Eyes, released in 2026, as Smith’s fifth studio album.
Why Sam Smith deserves a place in British Legacy
Sam Smith’s place in British Legacy rests on a career with a clear connection to the country’s contemporary music and cultural life. Their rise was marked by UK chart success: “La La La”, “Money on My Mind”, “Stay with Me”, “Promises” and “Unholy” all reached number one in the UK, while In the Lonely Hour and The Thrill of It All topped the UK Albums Chart. Smith’s work also travelled well beyond Britain, earning major awards in the United States and bringing British songwriting into a global pop conversation. “Writing’s on the Wall”, co-written with Jimmy Napes, added a particularly direct link to British screen culture as the theme for Spectre and the first Bond theme to top the UK singles chart.
Their legacy is not only a list of records and prizes. Smith has worked across solo releases, producer-led collaborations, charity recording and live performance, adapting their sound without losing the expressive singing that first attracted attention. Their public use of they/them pronouns also gives their success a distinct contemporary significance: a non-binary artist has reached mainstream audiences and won major music awards while speaking openly about gender identity. That visibility does not make Smith a representative of every British experience, but it is a meaningful part of the culture in which their music has been made and heard. Together, their chart achievements, international reach and contribution to representation make Smith a substantial subject in the story of modern British popular music.
Sources
Sam Smith — Wikipedia revision 1379771292
Adapted in part from Sam Smith by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.
