Nathan Evans (born 19 December 1994) is a Scottish singer from Airdrie,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

best known for singing

sea shanties A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a specific ...

. Evans first gained fame in 2020 by posting videos of himself singing sea shanties on social media service

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version o ...

. In 2021, he released a cover of the folk song "

Wellerman "Soon May the Wellerman Come", also known as "Wellerman" or "The Wellerman", is a sea ballad from New Zealand first documented in the 1960s. The song refers to the "wellermen", pointing to supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, who were amon ...

" which peaked at the top of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and also charted in several other countries.

Early life

Before launching his music career, Evans was a

postal worker A postal worker is one who works for a post office, such as a mail carrier. In the U.S., postal workers are represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL–CIO, National Postal Mail Handlers Union – NPMHU, the National Associatio ...

with the Royal Mail, in Airdrie, near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He attended Caldervale High School and has a university degree in

web design Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...

Music career

Evans had been posting performances of pop and folk songs to TikTok before beginning to post

. He posted his first traditional sea shanty, "Leave Her Johnny", to

in July 2020. In the following months, viewers of his videos continued to request more sea shanties, leading Evans to posting videos of himself singing "The Scotsman" and New Zealand 19th-century maritime song "

" in December 2020. "Wellerman", which was already well known on the app due to the popularity of his version of the song, quickly gained views on TikTok, inspiring many others to record more sea shanties, to duet and to remix the song, including renditions by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, comedians Jimmy Fallon and

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

, guitarist

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

, and entrepreneur

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

. As of January 2021, "Wellerman" had eight million views on TikTok and as of 29 May, Evans had 1.3 million followers. The sea shanties trend on the app has been called "ShantyTok". In the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' article discussing his success, Evans cited

The Albany Shantymen The Albany Shantymen are an Australian vocal group from Albany, Western Australia. They currently consist of 15 members and perform primarily sea shanties and folk music in the English tradition, as well as composing and recording their own music ...

version of the song as inspiration. In January 2021, Evans signed a three-single recording contract with

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, releasing his official version of "Wellerman" on 22 January 2021. A dance remix of the song created with producers

220 Kid William Edward Graydon (born 8 May 1989), known professionally as 220 Kid (pronounced "two-twenty kid" and stylised in all caps), is an English record producer, DJ and remix artist. On the UK Singles Chart, his collaboration "Don't Need Love (22 ...

and duo

Billen Ted Billen Ted is a British record production and songwriting duo based in London, consisting of Tom Hollings and Sam Brennan. History They gained notoriety with the single "Satisfied" sampling from the Chaka Khan 1984 hit " I Feel for You". Howeve ...

was released simultaneously. His growing music career led him to quit his job as a postal worker. In February 2021, he signed to

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

. In May 2021, Evans played his first live show. The performance took place in London aboard an electric GoBoat in the River Thames as a promotion for GoBoat's new location at

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lon ...

. Writing about the nature of Evans's success during the time of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Amanda Petrusich Amanda Petrusich (born c. 1980) is an American music journalist. She is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' and the author of three books: ''Pink Moon'' (2007), '' It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American M ...

wrote in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'': "It seems possible that after nearly a year of solitude and collective self-banishment, and of crushing restrictions on travel and adventure, the chantey might be providing a brief glimpse into a different, more exciting way of life, a world of sea air and pirates and

grog Grog is a term used for a variety of alcoholic beverages. The word originally referred to rum diluted with water (and later on long sea voyages, also added the juice of limes or lemons), which British Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon introduced ...

." Evans's second single, " Told You So", released on 25 June 2021. Like with "Wellerman", two versions were released: a

folk-pop Folk-pop is a musical style that may be 1) contemporary folk songs with large, sweeping pop arrangements, or 2) pop songs with intimate, acoustic-based folk arrangements. Recording production values created a unblemished style that appealed to ...

version and a dance-pop remix by

Digital Farm Animals Nick Gale, better known as Digital Farm Animals, is a British songwriter, music producer and DJ known for wearing an electronic pig helmet. He has featured on and co-written numerous tracks that have reached the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, ...

. Evans released his third single, "Ring Ding (A Scotsman's Story)", on 8 October 2021. In April 2022, Evans helped publicise the '' Doctor Who'' story ''

Legend of the Sea Devils "Legend of the Sea Devils" is the second of the 2022 specials of the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who'', which was broadcast on BBC One on 17 April 2022. The episode was written by Ella Road and Chris Chibnall, and dire ...

'' with an adaptation of "Wellerman". Evans planned to release a five-song EP of sea shanties in 2021. However, in November 2022, Evans released his first full-length album, titled ''Wellerman – The Album'', which is largely a collection of sea shanties, including his viral 2021 cover of "Wellerman" and its dance remix. The album also includes Evans's original composition "Haul Away".

Music style

Evans is a singer-songwriter, often using multiple tracks of his own voice. He accompanies himself with guitar and percussion. He sings in a baritone.

Other work

In January 2022, Evans appeared as himself in the fourth episode of the seventh series of the Scottish mockumentary series ''

Scot Squad ''Scot Squad'' is a British television mockumentary series about a fictional Scottish police force, made in a fly on the wall style. The show first aired on 27 October 2014 on BBC One Scotland. The show has aired seven series, including spec ...

''. In November 2022, he appeared as a racer at the World Wok Racing Championship, televised in Germany as a special episode of ''

TV Total ''TV total'' is a German late-night television comedy talk show which originally aired from 8 March 1999 to 16 December 2015 on ProSieben, hosted, created and produced by entertainer Stefan Raab. Following a six-year hiatus, it was revived on ...

'', representing Scotland.

Publications

In May 2021, it was announced that Evans will be publishing a collection of Sea Shanties titled ''The Book of Sea Shanties: Wellerman and Other Songs from the Seven Seas''. The book was published on 14 October 2021 by

Welbeck Welbeck is a village in Nottinghamshire, England, slightly to the south-west of Worksop. The village population is included in the civil parish of Holbeck. Welbeck became a coal-mining centre in 1912 and has a famous stately home, Welbeck Ab ...

. It contains over 35 classic shanties and the stories around them, as well as new original shanties by Evans.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Footnotes

References

External links

Interview with Nathan Evans on Good Morning America
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Nathan 1994 births Living people Polydor Records artists Royal Mail people Scottish folk singers Scottish baritones Scottish people of Welsh descent People from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire 21st-century Scottish male singers Scottish pop singers Scottish folk musicians TikTokers