article: He also won four Mobo awards, co-wrote an album with Mary J Blige and scooped an astonishing six Grammy nominations. The 22-year-old, from Cambridgeshire, is the son of a London banker who was fired for spending too much time trying to jumpstart her offspring's pop career. He got his break singing on other people's songs - Latch, by dance act Disclosure, and La La La by soul producer Naughty Boy - before scoring his own record deal. Much has been made of his soaring, multi-octave vocals but his technical abilities never mask his emotions. In the Lonely Hour was love letter to a man who never returned Smith's affections, and its honesty spoke to record-buyers in their millions. Ahead of the announcement of the Sound Of 2015 next week, the singer reflects on the highs and lows of his first year in the spotlight. I had hopes of number ones, but I never thought it would actually happen. When you come from being a featured artist there's a sudden fear: "Oh God, was it me that people liked - or was it Disclosure and Naughty Boy?" So when Money On My Mind came out, it was a reassurance - a boost of confidence for me. Just letting me know "things are good, people like your songwriting". That will never happen again - going to the Brit Awards knowing you already have a Brit Award. It was the first time I'd ever been, and I was number one that week. That was very, very surreal for me. I really celebrated hard that night. SNL was the scariest moment of my life, ever. It was the first time I played Stay With Me or Lay Me Down on television. I don't think I'll ever be that scared again... Four million people watching and no-one knew who the hell I was. Four days previous to the SNL performance, I remember reading tweets from people saying "who the f is Sam Smith?" [laughs] But it changed my life. You could feel it the morning after. I walked out of my hotel and people recognised me. Stay With Me went to number two on iTunes. It was mental. Sam's album shifted 166,000 copies in its first week on sale in America, the most ever for a debut by a British male artist. It was only kept off the top by Lana Del Rey's Ultraviolence. Every UK artist prays for US success but, genuinely, it was 50/50 for me. It was either going to work or it wasn't. What I didn't expect was for it to work hand-in-hand with the UK. I didn't think I'd be going to America untilâ€¦ well, about now, actually. Was I cursing Lana Del Rey? I wasn't, actually, because it gave me something to work towards. If I'm going to get number ones all the time, it leaves nothing for me to achieve in the future. Also, what I've realised now is that it isn't about chart positions. I was number two for the first week, and I was number two for the
summary: Sam Smith topped the BBC's Sound Of 2014 list last January, and went on to sell a million copies of his debut album, In the Lonely Hour, on both sides of the Atlantic.