英国流行、民谣男歌手
Little boys in Hull don’t play violin. Little boys in Hull have fights on the hill with the rival school and support City. But one such boy was defying the norm, and at the age of seven, was given the instrument that once belonged to his great granddad. This event was to be the beginning of the young Sam Gray’s musical journey.
Sam was brought up in a house full of music; exposed to his mother and father’s Motown collection plus Mr Gray Snr’s musical endeavours, “I used to fall asleep to him playing the tin whistle or harmonica”. Undeterred by his peers, and with no pressure from his parents, Sam sailed through his grades on the violin. “My parents just left me to my own devices really; they didn’t force me to practise. They simply said ‘If you want to do it, then do it, if you don’t then you can stop at any time. But don’t let anyone else stop you’.” But the flame was lit and Sam soon achieved his Grade 8 before also taking up the instrument we’re most likely to see him wielding now. “When I was 15 I got given a guitar by the local church. I didn’t have any lessons; I learnt a few chords from the Internet then practised them playing along to the Stereophonics and jamming with my dad.