Storming The Charts #3: Sam Sparro

Sam Sparro

Black & Gold

Australian born Sam Sparro was once many years ago a child actor - starring in a McDonald's commercial - before his father when limp and toe to get him into singing and performing. He was introduced to soul music and through his singing, Chaka Khan became one of his early admirers. Sparro moved to London to discover the British music scene, and it was after these experiences and others that included a job in a coffee shop in Los Angeles that he wrote his first single 'Black & Gold' during the low times in his life. Sam returned to the UK where he was immediately snapped up by London-based Island Records, launching him to instant stardom.

The single 'Black & Gold' was released in the UK on March 23rd and has received significant airplay on Radio One, as well as gracing the top of almost every music video channel in existence, bar of course MTV Base over the past few weeks.

Sam has not been afraid to come out and assert that he is proud to be gay, and its definitely not affected the exposure of his material, which I think is a really positive sign of how dynamic and free flowing the British music scene is becoming these days.

The single has been well received by many professional reviewers, including surprisingly DIS, which I find baffling; however, maybe thats yet another sign of the positive moves in the industry over the past year or two.

'Black & Gold' is a dark yet powerful dance ballad, that comprises of razor sharp vocals from Sparro, and a beat that could force my Grandad out of his grave to get jiggy on the dancefloor!

"Cos' If you're not really here, then stars don't even matter... I wanna be next to you"

You really get a sense of how Sam wants to empower his audience and take them on his own life journey, but all within the comfort of your own living room chair. Black & Gold is a feel good 80s power ballad with 21st century wit and spice.

The fact that this song had been riding in the top 5 of the singles chart is clear proof that even these days, good music can still grace the top of the charts, and we may not have to carry on praying that we don't always have to be subjected to the clasping claws of Soulja Boy and his fellow 'New Hip-Hopstars' for much longer.

What scares me about mainstream music at the moment is that, it is now almost May and there have been only FOUR number one singles for this entire year! Personally I think that's shocking. I pray for mercy upon the Singles Chart and the sane citizens of The United Kingdom for many years to come.