Samuel Falson (born 8 November 1982), better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. He was signed to the British record label

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. Sparro is best known for his 2008 single "

Black and Gold Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psyc ...

Biography

Sam Sparro was born 8 November 1982 and raised in Sydney, Australia. Sparro's father, Chris Falson is a gospel minister and recording artist of Maltese descent and of Portuguese descent who has written music for ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' and ''

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo (American TV network), Bravo network in July 2003, initially broadcast as ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. The series was created by executive producers David ...

''. Sparro's mother, Karyn Falson (née Frankland) is from Australia. His brother plays guitar professionally while his mother plays organ at a Baptist church. The family relocated to Los Angeles when Sparro was ten years old. His father had signed a deal there and was recording a

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

album, he took Sparro to a church in Tujunga to hear some of the genre's singers. Fellow church goers, were the McCrary family.

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...

became one of his early admirers after hearing Sparro's singing through knowing the McCrarys. His first role as a child actor was in a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

commercial. His stage name was derived from a family nickname, which in turn was inspired by the Sydney radio announcer Gary O'Callaghan's on-air character "Sammy Sparrow". Sparro left Los Angeles and returned to Sydney, where he lived with his grandparents and worked for a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

company, before travelling to the UK, immersing himself in the music scene in London. He returned to Los Angeles in 2002, where he took a job in a coffee shop. It was during this time that he wrote his single, "

" with his producer, Jesse Rogg. When growing up, Sparro regularly performed backing vocals at his father's concerts and on his music releases. He states "I'm a spiritual person, but ... not into any religion. I was always kind of a non-denominational Christian" and "a bit of a

gypsy {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Romani people , image = , image_caption = , flag = Roma flag.svg , flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress , po ...

". Sparro is openly gay. He did an interview for ''Attitude'' magazine and was featured on the front cover. Sparro married DJ Zion Lennox in a private ceremony in California on 21 September 2018.

Career

''Sam Sparro'' and breakthrough (2007–2012)

Sparro's debut single, "Cottonmouth", was released in late 2007. His second single, "

", peaked at number two in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in April 2008 and at number four in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and has since been used in soundtracks and promotional campaigns for various television series, video games, and films. Sparro's self-titled debut album, ''

Sam Sparro Samuel Falson (born 8 November 1982), better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. He was signed to the British record label Island Records. Sparro is best known for his 2008 single " Bl ...

'', was released in the UK in April 2008 and reached the top five on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, eventually receiving a gold

certification Certification is part of testing, inspection and certification and the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestatio ...

from the BPI for selling 100,000 copies. Two subsequent singles, "

21st Century Life "21st Century Life" is the second single from Sam Sparro's eponymous debut album, released on 21 July 2008. The Song was featured on one episode of ''Britannia High'' and it is also the theme music to the BBC Three drama, '' Personal Affairs'' ...

" and "

Pocket A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag o ...

", were considerably less successful on the charts. During promotion of "Black and Gold", Sparro covered "

American Boy "American Boy” is a song by British singer Estelle (musician), Estelle featuring rapper Kanye West from the former's second album ''Shine (Estelle album), Shine'' (2008). The song was written by the artists, alongside Ethan Hendrickson, John ...

" by Estelle on

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known professionally as Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1 and has since been presenting her weekd ...

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cott ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. In September 2008, Sparro was nominated for five

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

. His tour that month formed part of the

Wonky Pop Wonky pop was a loose grouping of musical acts that played what the BBC called "quirky, catchy and credible pop music, pop", rooted in the eccentric side of 1980s pop music, which was briefly popular in the late 2000s. Artists associated with th ...

tour; Wonky Pop is a new genre of music created by artists such as Sparro and Alphabeat. In December 2008, Sparro and co-writer/ producer Jesse Rogg received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for

Best Dance Recording The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording (formerly known as Best Dance Recording) is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists f ...

for "Black and Gold". Sparro is featured on the

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton (born 30 April 1970) and Simon Ratcliffe (born 28 November 1969). The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first ros ...

single "

Feelings Gone "Feelings Gone" is a song by British electronic music duo Basement Jaxx. It was released on 8 September 2009 as the second single from their fifth studio album, ''Scars''. It was digitally released on 8 September in the United States and was re ...

", released in September 2009. He also collaborated on a track called "Soles on Fire" with Chauffeur, which consists of Sparro, Theophilus London and producer

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

. In March 2010, a new single, "Corrected" was released to U.S. iTunes and is a collaboration with

Mason (DJ) Iason Chronis (; born 17 January 1980), better known as Mason, is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He had a number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart in 2007 with his track "Exceeder". Exceeder had originally been an instrumental and had received a ...

and rapper DMC. Sparro co-wrote Voodoo with Adam Lambert, a song that appears on the international and tour editions of Lambert's album ''For Your Entertainment'' and digital ep ''Remixes.''In July 2010, a new song titled "Pink Cloud" was premiered on East Village Radio's Accidental Rhythm. The premiered song was stated to be un-mastered. The video for the song, directed by artist and designer Franc Fernandez, was uploaded onto Sparro's YouTube channel in December 2010. Sparro stated via his Twitter that the video is an art project, and the song was not released as a single. Addressing rumours of a mostly instrumental album, he clarified that, unlike "Pink Cloud", his second album would be full of tracks featuring his vocals. A free EP was released following the release of the video.

''Return to Paradise'' (2012–2014)

Sparro announced his second album, '' Return to Paradise'', on his newly redesigned website. It was described as being inspired by soul and funk from the late seventies and early eighties. A new video premiered, featuring a new track from the album. In January 2012, "The Shallow End" was uploaded onto VEVO and YouTube. It is "compiled of home video footage of the making of the record and was filmed in LA, New York, London and Spain." The album was released in spring 2012, accompanied by tours in the United States and Australia. A video was filmed for the upcoming track, "Happiness". Sam collaborated with Adam Lambert again for Lambert's second album ''Trespassing,'' co-writing Shady and Broken English with Lambert and Lester Mendez. Sam and Adam performed Shady together with Nile Rodgers at the ''We are Family'' gala on 31 January 2013. In late 2013, Sparro released his first mixtape ''Mechanical'' to

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 ...

, featuring sixteen songs. On 17 September 2013, Sparro collaborated with The Bloody Beetroots on a track titled "Glow in the Dark" stating that "It's one of my favorite songs I've written recently." On 1 October 2013, Sparro's new EP, ''Quantum Physical'', was released, in which the lead single being "Hang on To Your Love" featuring

Durand Bernarr Durand Bernarr is an American singer-songwriter and producer. He frequently provides background vocals for neo-soul artist Erykah Badu and featured vocals for other artists such as Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, and The Internet. In 2019, Bernarr wa ...

Hang on To Your Love, Fascism, and Infinite were included from Mechanical. He is currently working on and directing the music video for "Hang on To Your Love".

''Quantum Physical, Vol. 2'' (2014–present)

On 14 February 2014 "Stay in Love", Sparro's fourth single as a featured artist was released with producer, instrumentalist, and lifelong friend Plastic Plates to the producer's SoundCloud account. The release was appropriately timed as Sparro posted a link to the track on his

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

accounts with the words "Happy Valentines Day Lovers". The song was made available for digital purchase on 19 February, contrary to the official release date of 13 February listed everywhere. Sparro's mixtape ''Love Made Me Do It'' was released to his SoundCloud account on 13 February 2015. 31 July of that year he released the single "Hands Up" from the second volume of ''Quantum Physical'', with a remix single following on 25 September. ''Quantum Physical, Vol. 2'' was released on 16 October 2015 with Intuit Records.

Discography

* ''

'' (2008) * '' Return to Paradise'' (2012) * ''Boombox Eternal'' (2020)

Awards and nominations

;

ARIA Awards History 2008
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 10 June 2012 , - , rowspan=6 ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , Sam Sparro , , Best Male Artist , , , - , ''

'' , , Breakthrough Artist – Album , , , - , rowspan=4 , "

" , , Breakthrough Artist – Single , , , - , Best Pop Release , , , - , Single of the Year , , ;

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

s , - , 2009 , , Sam Sparro , , Outstanding Music Artist , , ;

s , - , , , "Black and Gold" , ,

, , ;

GQ Australia ''GQ Australia'' is an Australian lifestyle publication and the Australian version of men's magazine ''GQ''. Published by NewsLifeMedia, a division of News Corp Australia, the print and digital men's title offers advice, news and features acros ...

Man of the Year Awards , - , 2012 , , Sam Sparro , , Man of Style , , ;

MTV Australia Awards The MTV Australia Awards (previously known as the MTV Australia Video Music Awards or AVMA's) started in 2005 and were Australia's first awards show to celebrate both local and international acts. The last edition took place in 2009. History Th ...

, - ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , "Black and Gold" , , Best Dance Video , ,

References

External links

Australian website

Interview with The Advocate magazine on Grammy Award nomination

Eleanor Conway Presents: Sam Sparro video interview

Wonky Pop website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparro, Sam 1982 births Living people Australian dance musicians Australian people of Maltese descent Australian people of Portuguese descent Electro musicians Australian gay musicians Neo soul singers Gay Christians Australian LGBTQ singers Australian LGBTQ songwriters Gay songwriters Musicians from Sydney Wonky pop musicians Gay singers Nu-disco musicians