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===Childhood and Early Life===
===Childhood and Early Life===


Seal was born Sealhenry Olumide Samuel in London, England.
Seal was born Sealhenry Olumide Samuel in London, England; his birth parents had moved there from Nigeria and divorced when he was still an infant. He was soon given up to be raised from infancy by foster parents, a caucasian family named Scooling, from London. According to Seal on his appearance on Oprah in October, 2007, he lived with the Scooling family until age four, when he was reunited with his birth mother. At age six Seal's biological father came forward to claim and raise his son. Seal had what he later described to Rob Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone as "a rough childhood." In an interview with Mark Cooper of Q he called his father "a bitter person who'd missed a lot of opportunities in life. I think he loved me but was just incapable of showing it." Seal earned a degree in architecture and worked a variety of jobs.

After trying to build a music career in London, Seal hooked up with a band called Push, playing funk music on tour in Japan. It was important more for geographical than for musical reaons: "I'd never been to that part of the equator before," he noted to Tannenbaum. "It was right up my alley. Every day was a new experience." After a jaunt with a Thailand blues group, he made his way to India and there had what he called "a few spiritual experiences." The happiness he felt there, he insisted, bestowed a calm and contentment about his future and allowed him to stop wanting a record deal so fervently. He believes this is why he soon got one.

Seal also became convinced that the half-moon scars under his eyes left by a skin ailment were a kind of omen of stardom. "I got really depressed about [the scars] at first, as you can understand," he recalled. "Now I really like them." The scars, he ultimately reasoned, would serve as a kind of insignia. "If I could design something, I don't think I could do it better." He did design the rest of his distinctive look: head-to-toe leather clothes and long dreadlocks, adding even more flash to his 6'4" frame.

Seal met producer Trevor Horn--who had made a fortune making records for the Art of Noise and Yes, among others, and had his own label, ZTT. "I thought he looked a bit frightening," Horn remembered to Tannenbaum. "I thought he was gonna like all kinds of music I wasn't gonna like. Then he told me he liked [folk-rockers] Crosby, Stills and Nash and Joni Mitchell. It was quite refreshing." Even so, he was disinclined to sign the fledgling artist.

In October 2007, Seal was unexpectedly reunited with Hilary Scooling, his foster sister he had not seen in 40 years, during a Fall appearance on TV's "The Oprah Winfrey Show", after an interview, including his wife Heidi Klum. Prior to this reunion, Seal had no contact with his foster family from childhood, until his wife Klum, researched and contacted his lost adoptive family months earlier. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was his first physical reunion from an actual member of the Scooling family, whom he had last seen 40 years before.

===Meteoric Success===

In 1990, however, Seal took his fate into his hands, achieving immediate success that would grab the attention of Horn and much of the pop world. He wrote a song called "Killer" with British keyboardist Adamski, and its mix of dance and rock--helped by heartfelt singing and lyrics--took it to the top of the U.K. charts. "I remember the first time we got to No. 1," he recollected in an interview with Giles Smith of The Independent, "Adamski and myself were in one of those family inn restaurants on a Sunday near Cambridge, [and] the week before we were No. 4 and [pop diva] Madonna was No. 1." When they realized that "Killer" had gained the top position, "I let out this huge roar. Honestly, families around us were going for their children--there was this six-foot-four black man gone wild in Cambridgeshire."

Seal was unprepared for what would follow. "I guess I was the epitome of the phrase 'meteoric success'- he told Cooper of Q." "My kind of success was different because I had a hit record with something which wasn't immediately commercial in the pop sense. I took [my song] Crazy round to lots of record companies before Killer and although everybody really liked it, they wouldn't touch it. But if you manage to get a hit with a record like that, it's like you've broken through with something which allows you so much room." Soon ZTT found itself in competition with other labels that wanted to sign Seal; Horn's company recruited the young artist by offering him artistic freedom and, as Seal himself told Tannenbaum of Rolling Stone, "quite a bit of money, too."

Though Seal initially brought in various friends from the dance music world to help him produce the album, he eventually surrendered the reins to Horn. The producer told Tannenbaum that the singer's crowd"were very interested in Chicago house music. I thought that was absurd, when you have that much talent. It's limited--you don't sit and listen to it. You can't go to concerts and things like that." The resulting album, Seal, appeared on ZTT/Sire in 1991 and complemented the dance-floor grooves with acoustic guitars and an overall emphasis on melody and song structure.

Rolling Stone writer Thigpen called the Seal's debut album "a startlingly original synthesis that seemed to come from some undiscovered place along the axis of rock and soul." Seal's lyrics on this first album reflected what he later referred to in the Independent interview as a "very young, very idealistic" point of view: "if we only stick together we can save the world." His travels in the east had made him "unstoppable in that respect."

===Road to the Money===

Seal was an international smash, thanks to "Killer" and "Crazy," an idealistic slice of pop-funk that was soon co-opted for a television commercial. And Seal himself was overwhelmed by fame. "You live one way for 26 years, and then suddenly there's a dramatic change," he reflected to Thigpen. "Five years ago I would get annoyed when my dole [unemployment] check arrived a day late. The next thing I know, I'm getting pissed off if my limo didn't turn up."

Indeed, as Seal told Cooper, the experience "was completely the opposite of what I'd imagined. If you're a sensitive person, like myself, you quickly realize that not everybody's intentions are genuine. And, yes, you have more people around you, lots more people around you, but your space becomes much smaller. People come up to you constantly in the street and they treat you like you're an alien." Most tragically, "I thought that the adoration would replace the attention that I sought from my father. I thought success or fame would bring me all these things." All of this led to "a very bad period when I had a lot of panic attacks." As he complained to Rolling Stone, "I wanted the money. I wanted to be a millionaire. But fame can be a pain in the ass."

===Anxiety and Awards===

Along with the anxiety, however, came laurels: the Q award for Best New Act of 1991, and three 1992 Brit Awards. Seal even performed at the Grammy Awards ceremony, though he took home no trophies. "The best thing that came out of the Grammys," he reflected to Smith of the Independent, "was that I did an interview for the L.A. Times and for the umpteenth time I was asked about my musical influences and for the umpteenth time I said I really like Joni Mitchell and reeled off this whole piece on why." On tour in France two months afterward, Seal received flowers and a note that said "Thanks for appreciating the work, love Joni." Seal had another brush with greatness when he joined British guitar legend Jeff Beck on a cover version of rock trailblazer Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" for the Hendrix tribute album Stone Free.

After relocating to Los Angeles, Seal gradually began work on a follow-up album. Intent on a stylistic departure rather than a recreation of his debut, he selected a new producer. Steve Lillywhite, who'd worked with Irish rock superstars U2, among others, was his choice. But he soon asked Horn to take over. "Steve was wrong for all the reasons Trevor was the right producer," he commented to Thigpen. "Trevor's a musician first and foremost."

The resulting album--again called Seal--replaced the debut's pounding rhythms with slyer grooves, while Seal's singing moved away from the anthemic shouts of his earlier hits and became more nuanced and intimate. The first single, "Prayer for the Dying," a sober, reflective tune with an insistent funk beat, became a Top Ten hit. Jeff Beck played guitar on another track, "Bring It On," and Joni Mitchell joined Seal for a duet in the song "If I Could." It was difficult for Seal to stop working on the project. "One time, I was going to the airport and I just turned round and came back to do more vocals," he confessed to Cooper. "I was dragged screaming from this record and so was Trevor. It was probably the most important thing about the whole record."]

Once, the eclectic British pop artist Seal told Rolling Stone's David Thigpen, "All my songs are therapy. I'm giving therapy to myself." After a splashy 1991 debut--including a Number One U.K. single and a top-selling album--he experienced several tumultuous and difficult years that caused him to confront the meaning of his sudden fame and, more importantly, his life.

Seal returned wiser and more assured with his 1994 sophomore effort, though in certain fundamental respects he was back where he began: with the same influential and supportive producer and the same title. Yet the variety of styles he enlisted--building on the already rich mixture of rock, soul, folk, and dance music that fills his first album--was, if anything, even greater. The journey to this achievement, as he told Q, necessitated a self-acceptance with which he struggled all his life. "You have to work out why you feel so undeserving," he insisted, adding "you have to start healing and you have to start saying to yourself, OK, I am worth it, I do deserve this."

===Near-Catastrophes===

"You have to start healing and you have to start saying to yourself, OK, I am worth it, I do deserve this." Seal's new look—a shaved head—at once represented a concession to California temperatures and a clean break from the past. He'd lived through a number of losses and near catastrophes between the two albums. "I had a really heavy duty car crash in California," he told Cooper. "I nearly flew off a canyon on to a freeway a hundred feet below at peak hour. The car was completely written off and, miraculously, I walked away virtually unscathed. Then I got double pneumonia. The doctors said it was touch and go at one stage but I came out of that unscathed too, with no scarring on my lungs or anything. Then there was a shooting right in front of me on [Hollywood's] Sunset Boulevard."

Seal claimed that a London healer helped him recover from his illness and clarify his life; he appears on the cover of his second album in the nude, his newly shorn pate adding to the overall image of strength through vulnerability. "My whole approach to this record was one of openness," he told Cooper. He also emphasized in various interviews that the "idealistic" world-saving stance of his first album had neglected the necessity of healing oneself—spiritually and otherwise—before one could truly help others. Part of this healing meant putting fame in perspective, and allowing his "celebrity" self to surface when he needed to protect his private self. "The days I wanted to be noticed, wanted some feedback," he informed Smith in the Independent,"I could go out there and kind of exude and I'd get recognized," becoming "Seal, pop star, impervious to everything."

Seal the second was generally greeted with critical raves. "This British neo-soul singer's gift flows from his ability to transform dance floor tracks into spine-tingling, magical experiences," enthused James Bernard of Entertainment Weekly, who gave the album an "A" grade. Reviewer Hobey Echlin of the Detroit Metro Times labeled the effort "Brilliant, subtle, indulgent and sentimental." Thigpen noted that "Seal's husky, expressive voice sounds even richer and more aged; the new record has an almost folky feel, with an undercurrent of melancholy and introspection that wasn't there before."

But it wasn't so much good reviews as good old fashioned radio airplay that helped the achievement sink in. "Somebody played the single on the radio the other day," Seal related to Smith. "I was speaking to my friend Oswald on the car phone. He said: "They seem to be playing your record a lot.' I said, rather grumpily: `Really? Cos I haven't heard it once. Ironically enough as I said that, it came on the radio. I said: `Oswald: I'm going to have to call you back."

Pulling over to the side of the road, Seal finally appreciated the finished product. "I'd been listening to it as a song and now I wanted to hear this thing that Trevor had always talked about: I wanted to hear the record. It sounded better on the radio than it did on the stereo at home. And the DJ said, "That was the new one from Seal—well worth waiting for." The feeling, he noted, was one he'd felt only occasionally: "almost unquantifiable... just this rush."


==Music Career==<!-- This section is linked from [[Francisca Urio]] -->
==Music Career==<!-- This section is linked from [[Francisca Urio]] -->

Revision as of 20:17, 6 April 2008

For other uses, see Seal.
Seal

Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel (born February 19, 1963 in Paddington, London) is a British soul singer and songwriter with Nigerian, Brazillian, and Afro-Caribbean roots. [1] His name, Olusegun, means "God is victorious".[2] Known professionally by his first name, Seal is known for his numerous international hits and his marriage to supermodel Heidi Klum.

Biography

Childhood and Early Life

Seal was born Sealhenry Olumide Samuel in London, England.

Music Career

Early Career

In the 1980s he joined Push, an British funk band, and toured with them in Japan. In Asia, he joined a blues band in Thailand for a while before separating from the group and journeying throughout India on his own. When Seal arrived back in England, he met Adamski, a producer who was impressed by him. He was given the lyrics of the song "Killer", which was a huge hit in 1990.

Seal [1991]

Main article: Seal (1991 album)

Seal first came to public attention as vocalist on the Adamski single "Killer" in 1990. The single eventually reached number one in 1990 in the UK. Seal subsequently signed to ZTT Records and released his debut album (produced by Trevor Horn), self-titled Seal, in 1991. Two versions of the album are known to be in circulation: the original "premix" version and a second, more common version with an updated mix. This is attributed to the demand for a produced single rushing the final album edit, and as Seal puts it, his and producer Horn's "inability to let go."[3]

Seal was positively received by critics. The singles "Crazy", "Future Love Paradise", and his own rendition of "Killer" performed well on the charts. In particular, "Crazy" became a hit in the United States in 1991, reaching number seven on the Billboard Music Charts and number 15 in the U.K. [4].

Seal [1994]

Main article: Seal (1994 album)

His second album, Seal, was released in 1994. A success, the album featured the singles "Prayer for the Dying" and "Newborn Friend", later receiving a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. A third single, "Kiss from a Rose", performed modestly when released but was later featured in the film Batman Forever. "Kiss from a Rose" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1996, becoming Seal's best performing single on the US market. Later, he recorded a cover of Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like an Eagle" for the Space Jam soundtrack.

Human Being

Main article: Human Being (album)

After the release of his previous album, in 1998, Seal released Human Being. The album was the product of a turbulent time in his life, including a split and later reconciliation with producer Horn as well as Seal's parting with ZTT Records and his signing with Warner Bros. Records in 1997. The record was panned upon its release. However, it received Gold record certification by the RIAA just two months after its release date.[5] The album provided three singles, "Human Beings", "Latest Craze", and "Lost My Faith".

Togetherland: the failed album

Main article: Togetherland

In 2001, fans awaited the arrival of a new album, announced as Togetherland. However, after a protracted post-production period the album was cancelled. The official word was that Seal simply didn't think it made the grade, although this conflicts with other reports that said the album was turned down by the label because producers felt the album wouldn't be commercially successful. Although one single was released from the album. "This Could Be Heaven" was released in the US and featured on The Family Man soundtrack. Since December 2006, Seal has indicated that he has plans to excerpt cuts from Togetherland and make them available for streaming download. The complete or edited versions of the songs "All I Wanted To Say," "Elise" (also known as "Eliz"), "Love Is Better," and "This Could Be Heaven", are available as streaming audio only on Togetherland co-producer Henry Jackman's website.

Meanwhile, Seal co-wrote and provided vocals for the hit single "My Vision" from Jakatta in 2002. He also recorded a successful duet with French icon Mylène Farmer called "Les Mots" during that same period.

Seal IV

Main article: Seal (2003 album)

In 2003, Seal released his fourth album, which was again self-titled, except for Australia, where it was released under Seal IV. Although it did not sell as well as either of his first two albums, this release brought him back into the public eye in the United States and continental Europe. Singles from the album included "Waiting For You", "Get It Together", and "Love's Divine" (released in 2004, and a big hit in several European countries).

Greatest Hits Album: Best 1991-2004

Main article: Best 1991-2004 (album)

In 2004, a greatest hits album entitled Seal: Best 1991-2004 was released, including a cover of the Bacharach / David classic "Walk on By" and a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen 's song "Lips Like Sugar". Also for a small additional fee the album could be bought with a limited edition accoustic CD with accoustic covers of songs such as "Killer" And "Kiss from a rose" as well as a very relaxed and laid back song named "Colour".

Live in Paris

Also in 2004, Seal performed a couple of shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France. The July 6, 2004 show was recorded and released about one year after as CD/DVD package, simply titled Live in Paris.

One Night to Remember

In June 2005, Seal recorded a special concert which was subsequently released in 2006 entitled, One Night to Remember as CD/DVD combination. The DVD includes a special "the making of" documentary in addition to the live performance. Recorded in a historic steel mill, the Altes Kesselhaus ("old boiler house"), in Düsseldorf, Germany, this performance includes a special version of Brahms' Lullaby which Seal sings in German and then in English for the exclusive audience. Unlike earlier recordings in which Seal is accompanied by his band, a full orchestra and choir comprised of 52 musicians accompanies the singer.

System

Main article: System (Seal album)

System was released in the UK on November 12, 2007 and in the U.S. on November 13, 2007.[6] . Seal describes the album as more dance-oriented, apparently a return to the roots of his first album. On the track titled "Wedding Day", Seal sings a duet with his wife, Heidi Klum. The album's first single, "Amazing", was released on September 25, 2007, and was nominated for the "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" Grammy at the 2007 50th Annual Grammy Awards.[7]

Seal performed "Amazing" and the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" at the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.

Seal also performed "Amazing" at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in December along with a duet of "Wedding Day" with wife and Victoria's Secret model Heidi Klum. Other performers at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show include the Spice Girls and will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas.

Discography

Further information: [[:Seal discography]]

Studio albums

Live & compilation albums

Singles

  • from Doctor Adamski's Musical Pharmacy
  • from Seal
    • 1990 "Crazy" #2 UK, #7 US, #5 AT, #9 AUS, #5 France, #2 Germany, #3 Norway, #1 SWE, #1 SWI
    • 1991 "Future Love EP" - featuring "Future Love Paradise" #12 UK, #15 AT, #46 AUS, #18 France, #16 Germany, #9 Norway, #13 SWE, #7 SWI
    • 1991 "The Beginning" #24 UK, #39 Germany
    • 1991 "Killer" #8 UK, #100 US, #95 AUS
    • 1992 "Violet" #39 UK
  • from Seal (Seal 2)
    • 1994 "Prayer for the Dying" #14 UK, #21 US, #56 AUS, #62 Germany
    • 1994 "Kiss from a Rose" #20 UK, #87 AUS
    • 1994 "Newborn Friend" #45 UK
    • 1995 "Kiss From a Rose" (re-issue) / "I'm Alive" #4 UK, #1 US, #3 AT, #1 AUS, #8 France, #11 Germany, #3 NL, #16 NZ, #3 Norway, #8 SWE, #7 SWI
    • 1996 "Don't Cry" / "Prayer For the Dying" (re-issue) #33 US, #51 UK
  • from Human Being (1998)
    • 1998 "Human Beings" #50 UK, #96 Germany
    • 1998 "Latest Craze"
    • 1999 "Lost My Faith"
  • From Visions
    • 2002 "My Vision" (Jakatta featuring Seal) #6 UK, #43 AUS
  • from Seal IV
    • 2003 "Get It Together" #25 UK, #29 US Adult Contemporary, #41 Germany
    • 2003 "Love's Divine" #68 UK, #79 US, #11 AT, #4 France, #4 Germany, #68 NL, #34 New-Zealand, #43 SWE, #4 SWI
    • 2004 "Waiting for You" / "Love's Divine" #80 UK, #89 US

Other songs:

  • 1992 "Who Wants to Live Forever" (Freddie Mercury tribute)
  • 1992 "Let the Love Shine In"
  • 1993 "Love Is Powerful" (JP only)
  • 1993 "Manic Depression" (US promo) (with Jeff Beck)
  • 1994 "How Do You Stop" (with Joni Mitchell)
  • 1995 "Bird of Freedom" (from "Clockers" OST)
  • 1996 "Hey Joe (live)" (from Set It Off soundtrack)
  • 2001 "History" (with Outlawz)
  • 2001 "Les Mots" #2 France (with Mylène Farmer - 500 000 copies sold in France)
  • 2002 "You Are My Kind" (with Santana)
  • 2003 "Mona Lisa" (from "Mona Lisa Smile" OST)
  • 2004 "Life on Mars" (iTunes exclusive)
  • 2006 "A Father's Way" (from the film "The Pursuit of Happyness")

See also

References

  1. ^ AskMen.com - Seal
  2. ^ Meaning of Olusegun in Nigerian.name
  3. ^ Future Love Paradise - 10 Years on and Still the Web's Best Source of Seal Info
  4. ^ Billboard.com - Biography - Seal
  5. ^ RIAA.com Human Being Gold certification date 01/22/1999, Retrieved July 12 2007
  6. ^ Joseph, Mike (2007-11-13), "Seal — System", Pop Matters Music Review, PopMatters.com
  7. ^ GRAMMY.com 
7. http://www.seal.com/

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Seal-Biography/EF48F8D0C64B6923482568950029333A Seal's Biography.

Sources:

Entertainment Weekly, June 3, 1994.
Guitar Player, October 1994.
The Independent, May 12, 1994.
Metro Times (Detroit), June 22, 1994.
Q, July 1994.
Rolling Stone, November 28, 1991; August 25, 1994.

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