Samuel Thomas Fender (born 25 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in North Shields, Fender released several singles independently beginning in 2017. His sound relies primarily on his traditional American musical upbringing combined with a British rock sensibility. He is known for his high tenor voice and Geordie accent. Recognised for his songwriting style, Fender is the recipient of five Brit Awards, two Ivor Novello Awards and a Mercury Prize. In 2018 Fender was named one of the BBC's Sound of 2018, and signed to Polydor Records, releasing his debut EP, Dead Boys. He won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2019 Brit Awards and released his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, that same year. His second album, Seventeen Going Under, was released in 2021. The album topped the UK Albums Chart and received a nomination for the 2022 Mercury Prize, with its title track gaining commercial success. In 2022, 2025, and 2026, Fender won the Brit Award for British Rock/Alternative Act. In October 2025, he was awarded the Mercury Prize for his third studio album People Watching; the single "Rein Me In" from this album, a duet with Olivia Dean, became Fender's first UK number one single in early 2026, and the longest running number one in UK chart history.
Early life Samuel Thomas Fender was born on 25 April 1994, in North Shields, England, to Shirley and Alan Fender. Shirley was a nurse, and Alan was an electrician, and later became a music teacher. Fender has a brother, Liam, nine years his senior. The working class family lived in a terraced house in the suburb of North Shields. His great-great-grandmother was Irish. Fender described the first 10 years of his life as "comfortable" within a musical family. Alan is also a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist, whilst Liam plays the drums. Both were musicians performing locally. He had a tumultuous late childhood and adolescence. His mother left when he was eight years old, although he later reconnected with her when he, at age 17, was forced out of his father's house by his stepmother. His mother was then living in the Scottish Borders, and Fender grew up there when he visited her. At age eight, Fender received his first guitar from his father. Fascinated by Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Slash, he became "proficient" on the guitar at age 10. Fender attended John Spence Community High School in Preston, Tyne and Wear. He was bullied for being overweight and unathletic as a child. When he was a young teen, he and his mother discovered the body of a woman they knew who died by suicide, which affected his formative years. When Fender was 12, he met his friend Dean Thompson and continued to play the guitar alongside him. Over the following year, he performed for the first time in front of an audience at his brother's street performer nights, playing Hendrix covers, and accompanied by Thompson at the latter's uncle's birthday, covering songs by Kings of Leon. His ambition at this point was to become a professional musician; Fender recalled, "when I hit 13 it was the only thing I wanted from life." At age 14, Fender began writing songs. The same year, he learned to sing by listening to Jeff Buckley's Grace, an album his brother gave him. Fender's brother introduced him to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town albums at age 15, during which he also began playing at his brother's open mic nights and formed his first band. At the time, he and his mother were poor and living in a small, crumbling flat within a council estate on the outskirts of North Shields. Fender attended sixth form at Whitley Bay High School. He found musically-minded friends at high school. He met Joe Atkinson, and they developed a friendship through their musical interests. Fender studied theatre and A Level in English language and literature at Whitley Bay High School; during this time, he began to spend most of his time in the music department, although he had not studied the subject academically. He was regarded as popular with students and staff and engaged in school activities. Fender performed with his band for the Year 13 students finishing their time. He got into several fights in his youth, and though his father taught him boxing, this did not have the intended effect. At age 16, Fender entered a Teenage Cancer Trust competition and won. The environment Fender grew up in was "ravaged" by the omnipresence of drugs, especially spice. His friends were dealing marijuana, and later some switched to hard drugs such as cocaine. Social pressure had prompted him to smoke spice several times, but he stopped after finding the experience unsettling, while his friends became addicted for years, which Fender said "destroyed their lives". When he was 17, his mother had to end her 40-year career as a nurse due to fibromyalgia; he considered selling drugs to support her, but she talked him out of it. Fender idolised his father for his talent as a musician, and viewed him as a tough man who struggled to provide for his children in a region facing an endemic lack of opportunities. Fender recalled that his stepfather had become homeless for more than a year after serving in the armed forces, and faced difficulty escaping street life whilst struggling to find stable housing and employment. Fender said he needed to become independent quickly. Whilst studying, Fender simultaneously held two jobs, working in a local restaurant and pub (where his manager later discovered him), and drank alcohol daily from 17 and a half to 18, to relieve the fatigue. He abandoned his A Levels to earn money to help his mother, who developed a mental illness in addition to her fibromyalgia. At the time, both had slipped below the poverty line. His uncle helped them and eventually Fender found his outlet in music. His father was then a guitarist playing in clubs around Newcastle upon Tyne, and their relationship improved due to their shared passion for music. Around 18 years old, Fender began performing paid gigs at restaurants. After high school, he held several jobs, teaching guitar and working in a call centre and a bar.
Career
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