Biography
A onetime public school attendee who labeled himself a nerd and drew creative fuel from Morrissey alongside Richard Dawkins, Ordinary Boys frontman Sam Preston emerged as one of the more paradoxical personalities in noughties British indie pop after attaining prominence through a romance that originated on reality television. Samuel Preston entered the world in 1982 in Worthing, West Sussex, son of an American mother and an English father whose lineage traced directly to former Prime Minister Earl Grey. He launched his recording path by assembling a mod-revival group alongside schoolmates guitarist William J. Brown, bassist James Gregory and drummer Simon Goldring; operating as the Ordinary Boys, the quartet issued three studio albums that each reached the Top 20 before the band dissolved in 2008. In 2006 Preston achieved widespread recognition during the third series of Celebrity Big Brother, where he began a relationship with future spouse Chantelle Houghton. The pair became a constant presence in tabloid coverage, a period that included Preston hosting a programme devoted to voodoo magic and delivering an unforgettable broadcast incident by walking off Never Mind the Buzzcocks after presenter Simon Amstell mocked Chantelle’s autobiography. Once the marriage ended, he relocated to America for recovery, then resurfaced two years afterward with an electro-pop makeover styled after Adam Ant. His first single under this approach, the Siouxsie and the Banshees-sampling “Dressed to Kill,” underperformed on the charts, prompting the parent album Whatever Forever to be withdrawn and resulting in his release from the B-Unique roster.
Singles
