Sam Wickens, from Bangor Co. Down, Northern Ireland is a mesmerising solo performer, gifted with the talent to arouse the soul with haunting melodies laced with poignant lyrics sung with his trademark transparency of spirit.
Compared to Jeff Buckley, John Martin, Paolo Nutini, Lou Reed, Sam is a soulful writer and performer with a restless creativity, conveying a personal blend of Soul, Blues, Gospel, Folk and Indie. This young and gifted 20-something artist humbly plies his craft with a focused sincerity, and has created a style his own: consistently delivering on his reputation as a bewitching live performer.
In 2016 Sam performed at the prestigious Belfast Nashville Songwriters Festival, Nashville, Tennessee, where he sang to an entranced audience at the famous Bluebird Café in Nashville. Sam also performed at ‘The Factory’ in Franklin Tennessee. This event was filmed by Music City Roots and beamed live into 60 million homes across the U.S.
In 2017 Sam was taken under the wing of legendary American record producer Tony Visconti (producer of scores of albums by major artists including David Bowie, T.Rex, Paul McCartney, Damon Albarn, Moody Blues, Marc Almond, Kaiser Chiefs, etc). Visconti’s mentorship led to Sam working closely with music icons including Stuart Copeland, Nitin Sawhney, and Imelda May, and performing live at Union Chapel London supported by legendary saxophonist Howey Casey and top afro-urban band the Compozers. Sam’s mentorship under Tony Visconti was featured on a SkyArts documentary ‘Tony Visconti’s Unsigned Heroes’.
On his new release, Sam says ‘I wanted to create a family of songs, I needed an open space to be able to get different aspects of my mind out! I wanted to make something new, something not everyone will like, but they all will respect. Music is my way of communicating with people and the world. ‘Falling’ is honesty, when you don’t want to be honest or simply you can’t.’
Listen to ‘Falling’ – BELOW:
Gigs:
- June 13th – The Black Box, Belfast
- June 15th – Whelans, Dublin
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