Sam Gellaitry (born 6 January 1997) is a British record producer, DJ, and songwriter who is currently signed to

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

Early life

Gellaitry was born in

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

in 1997. He comes from a family of musicians, with his mother previously playing in a band and his father owning a business that makes

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

. He was first exposed to electronic music through his brother, who listened to

happy hardcore Happy hardcore, also known as 4-beat or happycore, is a subgenre of hardcore dance music or " hard dance". It emerged both from the UK breakbeat hardcore rave scene, and Belgian, German and Dutch hardcore techno scenes in the early 1990s ...

music. He left school at 16 and taught himself to produce, starting an entry level college course in sound production.

Musical career

Gellaitry first became known as a producer on the platform

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

, before earning a record deal with

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

at the age of 18. He later signed with Parlophone. He released a single in 2014 entitled "Powder". In 2015, Gellaitry released the EP ''Short Stories'', released on Soulection Records. He released three volumes of the ''Escapism'' series of EPs: ''Escapism'' was released in 2015, ''Escapism II'' was released in 2016 and ''Escapism III'' was released in 2017. In 2017, he performed at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

, closing at the Gobi tent. In 2018, Gellaitry's song "Long Distance" was featured in a Super Bowl ad for

Diet Coke Diet Coke (also branded as Coca-Cola Light, Coca-Cola Diet or Coca-Cola Light Taste) is a sugar-free and low-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on ...

. In 2019, he released his first album, ''Viewfinder Vol. I: Phosphene''. In 2021, he released the EP ''IV'', featuring four tracks, including "Duo", which was accompanied by a music video. This was the first project of Gellaitry's that prominently featured his vocals, as his previous works were primarily instrumental or sample based. In 2022, he released the mixtape album ''VF Vol. II'', a followup to ''Viewfinder Vol. I'', featuring a collaboration with PinkPantheress on "Picture in My Mind" and the single "Serotonin". PinkPantheress described Gellaitry as "a genius level producer". Also in 2022, ''EDM.com'' named Gellaitry as one of the 10 best music producers of the year. ''This Song Is Sick'' ranked him as number two on their list of "Top 10 Artists to Watch in 2023". In 2023, producer Kaytranada remixed Gellaitry's single " Assumptions". Gellaitry described Kaytranada as "a true innovator and inspiration to my music". Gellaitry has also produced for other artists such as

Don Toliver Caleb Zackery "Don" Toliver ( ; born June 12, 1994) is an American rapper and singer. He emerged to fame in 2018 with the release of his debut mixtape, ''Donny Womack'', and his feature on the song "Can't Say" by fellow Houston rapper Travis Sco ...

and Masego.

Musical influences

Gellaitry has described

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), better known as Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, DJ, filmmaker, and rapper. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums: ''1983'' (2006), ''Los Angeles'' (2008), '' Co ...

, Hudson Mohawke, Rustie,

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

Röyksopp Röyksopp () a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of childhood friends Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland who formed Röyksopp during the Bergen Wave. After experimenting with different Electronic Mu ...

and Toro y Moi as being some of his musical influences.

Personal life

Gellaitry has synaesthesia, and has discussed in interviews how he sees

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the cl ...

s in different colours and how this influences his music. He lives in Stirling, where he grew up.

Discography

Mixtapes

* ''Viewfinder Vol. I: Phosphene'' (2019) * ''VF Vol. II'' (2022)

EPs

* ''Short Stories'' (2015) * ''Escapism'' (2015) * ''Escapism II'' (2016) * ''Escapism III'' (2017) * ''IV'' (2021) * ''Under the Illusion'' (2023)

Singles

* "Thinking" (2018) * "Duo" (2021) * "Gullible" (2021) * "New Wave" (2022) * "Angel" (2022) * "Darling Drive" (2024) * "More!" (2024) * "Introspective" (2024) * "Home" (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Max Living people Scottish DJs Scottish record producers 1997 births British electronic dance music DJs