Blending propulsive, tuneful indie rock with introspective singer/songwriter sensibilities and lyrics attuned to social issues, Newcastle-born Sam Fender first drew national attention across Britain toward the end of 2017 after inclusion on the BBC’s Sound of 2018 roster, which quickly led to a contract with Polydor Records. Both of his full-length releases, Hypersonic Missiles in 2019 and Seventeen Going Under in 2021, reached the summit of the U.K. album charts.
Raised in North Shields on the outskirts of Newcastle within a musically inclined household, Fender began performing in local venues before being noticed by the manager of Ben Howard. That connection facilitated the release of his first single, “Play God,” a brooding, issue-driven track that was soon joined by “Greasy Spoon” and “Millennial.” Shortly afterward the BBC placed Fender alongside Sigrid and Lewis Capaldi on its Sound of 2018 list. Support tours alongside Hozier and Catfish and the Bottlemen ensued, followed by the 2018 singles “Leave Fast” and “That Sound,” both of which were later collected on the Polydor-issued EP Dead Boys that November.
Early in 2019 Fender set up sessions for his debut album inside a personal studio in North Shields, working with longtime friend and producer Bramwell Bronte. He received the Brit Awards’ Critics’ Choice accolade and made his American television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! before Interscope/Polydor delivered Hypersonic Missiles in September of that year. The follow-up, Seventeen Going Under, arrived in 2021 and examined his formative years in North Shields. The album earned both commercial and critical praise, securing Fender’s second straight U.K. number-one position and winning two NME Awards in 2022, which prompted the release of a deluxe edition containing numerous live recordings later the same year.
