Sam who is now 22 has only been in the public eye for 2 years now but has taken the world by a storm.
It may seem to you and I that it all came easy to singer and songwriter Samantha Gold since she was discovered in 2011, but you don’t know half of it.
Me:
So Sam, tell me how it all started, what made you want to become a singer? Who
inspired you?
Sam: Well,
it all started when I was around four. My mother was a keen singer, a great one
to say the least and she would sing to me constantly. I would start copying her
and singing along, she loved it. She would record me pretending to be in music
videos and I would sing at friends and family’s birthdays. By this time I was
about 8 or 9 and after all of the complements I was sure being a singer is what
I wanted to do.
Me:
Once you had made the descision that signing is what you wanted to do, you
headed to New York to make your dreams come true, how did that work out for
you?
Sam: It was in 2008 and I was 17, my dad wasn’t around
anymore and I hadn’t seen him since I was about 10. My Mum and I had decided we
were going to move to New York for six months to see if I could get a record
deal. It was all planned amazingly in our heads. Mum had some contacts over
there and I had done a lot of research, but it was the complete opposite once
we arrived. The apartment was rancid to
say the least, we had company we didn’t expect. In the form of cockroaches. We
spent the first week or so looking in to mum’s ‘contacts’ which were about as
much help as a chocolate teapot!
Me: So, what happened next?
Sam: I had a studio session at home and had many copies with
me. We started at the obvious, the huge record labels like Mercury and Warner
Music Group before trying the back street companies that barely got any
recognition. We tried around 30 labels and only a handful would take a copy
“we’ve seen it all before” or “ you’re the 30th person to come in
giving a demo today, don’t get your hopes up sweet thing”. It made my blood
boil, getting turned down one after one everyday. Then that was it we had a week left before we
had to leave to come home, the 6 months had vanished. Almost felt like it had
been wasted. It was our last night so me and mum got over the fact that a music
deal in ‘The Big Apple’ wasn’t going to happen and went out for food. We were
sitting talking about what we were going to do once we got back home, I still
wanted to be a singer and I made that clear. I noticed that the
twenty-something year old man on the table next to us was paying attention to
our conversation, smirking every so often.
Me: And? Come on the tense is killing me! Who is
he? Justin Timberlake?
Sam: No! I wish! But yes, the man next to us leaned forward to catch
our attention. “Why don’t you post your songs on YouTube?” Mum and I froze in
confusion that we hadn’t thought of this earlier, we had heard of a few artists
that appeared from YouTube. We thanked the man next to us and caught our flight
home.
Me: Wow, so now
you’re sitting in front of me. 5 years later, with an amazing career. Thanks to
that one man in New York.
Sam: I know it’s amazing! I set up the YouTube account within 10
minutes of walking through the front door once we got home before I sat and
recorded my first cover, Alicia Keys- No One. It got about 50 views in the
first day, 20 of them were probably family members. But day after day the views
were growing, people were sharing the videos on social networks and within the
month it had 200,000 views. I uploaded another and another and another. My
subscribers were growing. 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000. Every time I checked it was
growing, I was getting more and more positive feedback, likes and views. In 6 months I had 450,000 subscribers and
multiple twitter accounts dedicated to me. I got a phone call from YouTube, in
New York. They were sending me a gift for reaching that amount of subscribers
in the short time, A trip to London. It was strange at first a girl from County
Durham sitting in a room with my mum in a hotel. We had no idea what we were
waiting for. There was a knock at the door and a cough before he walked in.
Both mine and mum’s jaw dropped. It was Simon Cowell.
Me: Wait, so
within 6 months of you setting up the account you received a phonecall from
YouTube, they paid for a trip to London
for a surprise and you had no idea you were about to meet Simon Cowell?
Sam: Yes! So Simon came in and sat on a chair opposite us, he
explained that he had seen me on YouTube after his secretary showed him. He was
really impressed so contacted YouTube so they could contact me. That day was
talking about a lot of meetings in London, I was having to travel down there
every weekend all expenses paid. After a month or so of meetings and singing in
front of a room of businessmen an press Simon finally signed me to his label
Simco. "I don't want you to jump in the deep end just yet" he
repeated. So I didn't, I spent around a year and a half writing material in the
studio with amazing writers and musicians and learning my technique. Finally in
2010 Simon said I was ready. Being my manager he organised a lot of gigs, press
coverage and had me meeting a lot of people whose name I would never remember.
Me: Sounds like you had a busy year, it didn’t go well
to start but look where you are now!
Sam: I know and I am so blessed to be where I am today. I most
likely wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that man in New York who told me to
set up a YouTube account.
Me: Congratulations on that! It is really well deserved!
Stay in touch with us Sam and when is the album out?
Sam: Thank
you so much! New album ‘The Change’ is
out December 15th.
By Emily Bunker
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