Sam Sparro's Biography

Sparro comes from a family immersed in music. His great-grandfather was a professor of music, his grandfather was a trumpet player who performed with Frank Sinatra amongst others and his father, Chris Falson, was an accomplished gospel singer.

When Sam Sparro was ten, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his father was recording a gospel album. Chris Falson got to know the McCrary family, and at the McCrary home, one day Chaka Khan turned up. Sam Sparro's blog takes up the story:

"Someone had suggested to her that she might record a particular gospel track on her on next record and I was the only one in the room who knew all the words - so I busted out singing it with piano accompaniment. She said "Damn! That white boy can sing!"

At the end of the 1990s, Sam Sparro returned to Australia, where he lived with his grandparents and worked for a PR company. However it was a short stay and by 2000, Sparro was living with his family in Surrey in England and working in a Toshiba factory. After a stint in Brixton in South London, Sam Sparro crossed the Atlantic once more and stayed in a Hollywood flat and started writing songs.

In April 2008, The Sun highlighted Sam Sparro's success:

"Sam is the openly gay white soul boy sitting at No2 in the charts with his infinitely less silly [compared to Cottonmouth] single Black And Gold."

However, Black And Gold had actually been written two years ago before and was out on a compilation in May 2007. Sam Spiro told MTV News:

"I wrote it in 10 minutes. It just came to me one night when I was feeling lonely and wondering if god exists. I picked up a pen and the first draft of lyrics is what is on the radio!"

In May 2008, the self-titled album Sam Sparro was out on Island.