Sam Smith--The Biography by Joe Allan

Author:Joe Allan [Joe Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784188610
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2015-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

TAKE ME TO NIRVANA

‘I don’t think about whether it’s gonna be a dance record or a ballad or anything when I’m making music. I sit in the studio and I think, “How am I feeling today?” and I write how I feel. It’s really, really simple.’ Sam Smith on the ‘simple’ process of writing songs for his multi-million selling debut album – Digital Spy, May 2014

Nick Raphael and Jo Charrington know a thing or two about discovering talent. Raphael’s career stretches back to the mid-1990s when he started as product manager, and then label manager, for London Records’ dance-focused off-shoot, FFRR. Charrington has a similarly lengthy service record, having earned her break in the music industry working as a marketing assistant for Raphael at London. She had gone on to work as a PA within various other UK record labels and eventually moved into artist management, helping to put together and finally managing the boy band Another Level in the mid- to late-nineties. By 2001, Raphael had joined Sony Records, as managing director of its Epic label, and he needed a safe pair of hands to oversee that label’s A&R department. Having briefly worked together previously, Raphael knew Charrington could handle the job and tempted her back into the fold.

Over the next ten years the pair signed and launched an eclectic roster of acts at Sony, including Lemar, Scouting for Girls, Paloma Faith, The Priests and Charlotte Church, as well as nurturing the early careers of several former X Factor contestants, including Olly Murs, JLS and G4. In July 2011, after Universal Music UK decided to re-launch the London Records imprint, Raphael left Sony to be appointed London’s new label president, with Charrington joining him to serve as senior vice president of A&R.

Over the next year or so they started signing acts to the label, but had initially failed to find any artists with huge commercial potential. It was around then that Raphael heard Sam’s voice for the first time. ‘I remember hearing “Latch” and thinking, “No person can go through that many vocal ranges at one time without going through a computer”,’ he told Billboard. ‘And then he played “Lay Me Down”, and I remember getting in the car afterward, calling the business affairs guy and saying, “Whatever we do, we must close this deal”.’ It was a sentiment echoed by Charrington, who added, ‘We’ve never heard a voice like that in our twenty years of working together.’

Within a couple of months, Sam signed a UK label deal with Raphael, under the London Records banner. While it’s obvious Raphael and Charrington recognised something special in him, in real terms they didn’t have much to go on. But despite the fact Sam’s songbook was relatively light at that point, they felt he was an artist worth nurturing and were more than happy to take a back seat while he (and his team) managed the on-going evolution of Sam’s sound and, eventually, his image. Yet again, it would seem luck was on Sam’s side as Raphael and Charrington soon had another major upheaval to focus on.

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