Sam Fender

Early life

Samuel Thomas Fender was born on 25 April 1994 in North Shields, England, to Alan and Shirley Fender. He has a brother, Liam, who is ten years older than him. Fender had a tumultuous childhood – his mother left when he was eight years old, but he later moved back in with her after he was kicked out of his father’s house by his stepmother as a teenager. When he was 17, his mother had to end her 40-year career as a nurse due to fibromyalgia; he considered selling drugs to support her, but she talked him out of it.

He attended John Spence Community High School and the sixth form college of Whitley Bay High School, attending the latter alongside bandmate Joe Atkinson. He was bullied for being overweight and unathletic as a child, but found musically minded friends at high school. During and after college he had a number of jobs, working in a call centre, a restaurant and a local pub where he was subsequently discovered by his manager.

At the age of 20, Fender was diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening illness, shortly after which his father moved to France. His father, Alan, and brother, Liam, are also both singer-songwriters; Liam also plays drums and piano. Fender started playing the guitar when he was 10 and began to write songs at 14.

Career

2013–2015: Early beginnings

Fender began writing songs at the age of 14, being influenced by Bruce Springsteen and Jeff Buckley, after being introduced to the albums Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Grace by his brother. He started to play at his brother's open mic nights and formed his first band when he was 15. In 2010, the band entered a Teenage Cancer Trust competition, where Matty Healy was a judge, and won. Fender acted in the 2011 pilot episode of the ITV drama series Vera and a 2012 episode of the CBBC fantasy series Wolfblood. When he was about 18 he began performing paid gigs at restaurants.

In 2013, Fender was spotted performing in the pub where he worked by Ben Howard's manager Owain Davies, who took him on as a client. Throughout 2013, Fender played a series of gigs across the country supporting a number of artists including Ben Howard and Willy Mason. Fender then took two years out for health reasons.

Fender has said that prior to this time he tried to write songs that he thought would be popular as he was "desperate to do well" to get himself and his mother out of their financial and living situation. However, Fender said that having a major health scare and facing the possibility of death changed his outlook on life. His recovery refocused his songwriting efforts and he began to write songs for himself. It was out of this period that Fender wrote a number of the songs he went on to release.

2019–2020: Hypersonic Missiles

In anticipation of his debut album, Fender re-released "Play God" on 14 January 2019. He performed the track in his first Live Lounge alongside a cover of Ariana Grande's "Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored". On 6 March, Fender released the title track of the album "Hypersonic Missiles", which he described as an "unorthodox love song". The single has since been BRIT certified Gold. Fender performed the song on his US television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live before embarking on playing his first shows in North America. Fender made an appearance on The Graham Norton Show to promote the album and performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Middlesbrough.

On 6 July, Fender announced the album alongside the release of the single "Will We Talk?". After extensive touring, including playing two sold out shows at Shepherds Bush Empire, Fender had to cancel several gigs, including Glastonbury Festival, after experiencing severe bleeding in his vocal cords. After a month of rest, he recovered sufficiently to perform as support act for Bob Dylan and Neil Young in Hyde Park and play the fastest ever selling date at the Mouth of the Tyne Festival. In July, Fender announced his biggest UK tour, up until that point, which completely sold out and included two nights at O2 Brixton Academy and a record four nights at O2 Academy Newcastle.

The track "The Borders" was released two weeks prior to the album on 1 September. Fender has said the track is the most personal on the album and that it shows the musical direction that he will be going in, both sonically and thematically. Fender released his debut studio album, Hypersonic Missiles, on 13 September 2019. It topped the UK Albums Chart selling 41,000 copies in the first week; outselling the rest of the top 5 combined. Fender was awarded the number one album trophy by Alan Shearer for the BBC's Match of the Day. The album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 100,000 units in the UK, two months after the album release, on 13 December 2019.

Following the release of his album, Fender announced his biggest sell-out UK tour to date, for the beginning of 2020, with his first-ever arena shows, including dates at Newcastle's Utilita Arena and London's Alexandra Palace. Fender supported Liam Gallagher at a gig for Radio x at the O2 Ritz Manchester on 21 September. On 10 December 2019, "All Is On My Side" was released being described as one of his oldest songs and a staple of his live set, which didn't make it on the album.

Fender was nominated for Best New Artist at the 2020 Brit Awards, losing out to Lewis Capaldi. He performed in the Live Lounge playing a cover of "Back To Black" by Amy Winehouse, a previous Brit Award winner, which was later officially released. Elton John personally invited Fender to perform at his annual AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Party after the 2020 Oscars and joined Fender on stage for a rendition of "Will We Talk?". On 13 February, the track "Hold Out" was released which Fender said was to be the last song released of the Hypersonic Missiles era.

In March, Fender was forced to reschedule the tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that year he was the first act to perform at the Virgin Money Unity Arena, a specially created socially distanced venue in Gosforth Park. He played three unreleased songs at the gig; "Angel In Lothian", "The Kitchen" and "Seventeen Going Under", which would be released as a single from an upcoming album of the same name in 2021.

On 24 November 2020, Fender released the track "Winter Song", a cover of a 1970s track by Lindisfarne, which was premiered as Annie Mac's Hottest Record in the World. The track was released to raise money for The Big Issue in collaboration with homelessness charity People Of The Streets. Fender has said that the issue is "close to home" for him as he has "family members and friends" who have been homeless. He performed the song with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at Sage Gateshead Christmas Cracker event on 18 December.

2021–present: Seventeen Going Under

On 7 July 2021, Fender released "Seventeen Going Under", as the lead single and title track of his second studio album. The track focuses on the time Fender was seventeen and struggling to help his mother financially. The track "Howdon Aldi Death Queue" was also released as a B-side. Alongside this Fender announced the tracklist of his then-upcoming album to be released on 8 October. Fender described the album as "A coming of age story. It's about growing up. It's a celebration of life after hardship, and it's a celebration of surviving."

After the title track was released, Fender followed it with the politically charged single "Aye", which he described as being ‘about the polarity between the left and the right wing’. "Get You Down" was the third single and was featured in FIFA 22. The final single "Spit of You" was released on 27 September, which chronicled Fender's relationship with his father. The actor Stephen Graham portrays his father in the music video starring alongside Fender.

Upon the album's release on 8 October, it received "universal acclaim", based on the cumulative reviews on the webs Metacritic. The album debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts, marking Fender's second time to debut at the top spot. It shifted 44,000 copies in its first week, of which 79% of those were physical sales, outselling the rest of the top 10 combined. This made it Fender's highest first-week sales to date and the fifth-biggest opening week of 2021. The Album also debuted at number one in Scotland, and in a top 10 position in Ireland and Germany. Fender also scored his first Top 40 single in the UK, with "Seventeen Going Under" re-entering the chart. Fender said that "as a record, I think this one is leagues ahead of Hypersonic Missiles, I'm more proud of this than anything I've ever done. It's probably the best thing I've done in my life."

Fender is set to embark on a UK-headline arena tour, his biggest to date, to support Seventeen Going Under in 2022. He will also be supporting The Killers on four of their UK and Irish dates in 2022.

Fender contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Sad But True" (recorded live) to the charity tribute album The Metallica Blacklist, released in September 2021. He will also be presenting an upcoming BBC Four documentary on the life of Alan Hull, named Fog on the Tyne: The Alan Hull Story, which features contributions from artists such as Sting, Elvis Costello and Mark Knofler.

Backing band members

• Dean Thompson – lead guitar
• Tom Ungerer – bass guitar
• Joe Atkinson – keyboards, synthesizers, guitar
• Drew Michael – drums
• Johnny "Blue Hat" Davis – saxophone

Accolades

Rankings