Sam Tompkins

Sam Tompkins, the East Sussex singer and songwriter, fused candid emotional lyrics with relaxed R&B pop during his early years performing on the streets, before Island Records signed him in 2019. His vocal approach, marked by frequent shifts between a soulful falsetto and a more grounded delivery of everyday urban observations through accent changes, reflected his southern English origins. Following the 2017 release of his first EP, Coloured Emotions, Tompkins issued his major-label debut EP, From My Sleeve to the World, in 2019. Later that same year, Jnr Choi sampled Tompkins’ 2021 cover of Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon” for the international hit “To the Moon,” which arrived several months ahead of Tompkins’ fourth EP, the 2022 release Who Do You Pray To.

Born in Brighton, Tompkins moved with his family to the nearby coastal town of Eastbourne when he was just 11 months old. His sister’s regular playing of Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake records around the house supplied his first vocal practice through close imitation. At age 11 he posted an online video of himself singing, only to remove it after unsupportive reactions from school friends. Four years later he found the resolve to upload another video and to busk in both Eastbourne and Brighton. The initial composition he considered strong enough, titled “Supernova,” supplied the assurance to chase a music career and essentially served as his 2014 debut single.

Even then, mainstream acts including Rizzle Kicks and Bastille supported his material, and in 2016 he made his film debut as a busker in Brotherhood, the third installment of Noel Clarke’s Hood trilogy. From mid-2017 he issued several singles that led to his debut EP, Coloured Emotions, in December. That project featured “Control,” a collaboration with Dorset grime artist Isaiah Dreads that applied heavy vocoder and Auto-Tune processing to their vocals. By mid-2018 Tompkins had secured high-profile support slots with Jason Derulo and Krept & Konan, while his video uploads, especially those showing him busking with close collaborator Ren before crowds in central Brighton, began attracting hundreds of thousands of views. The January 2019 single “Follow Suit,” a raw tribute to a lost friend, reached one million views within a week.

Island Records took notice and signed him ahead of August’s “You Broke My Heart So Gently,” a year that also included performances at industry showcases such as Brighton’s The Great Escape and Berlin Introducing. Both of those singles appeared on the October major-label debut EP From My Sleeve to the World, which included a guest appearance by Birmingham rapper and actor Jaykae on “Faded.” Tompkins released his Isolation Diaries EP in May 2020 while many countries remained under COVID-19 lockdown.

In November 2021 London-based rapper Jnr Choi issued “To the Moon,” built around a sample of Tompkins’ earlier cover of Bruno Mars’ 2010 single “Talking to the Moon.” Choi’s track became a global hit, reaching number 48 in the U.K., entering the Hot 100 in the U.S., and landing in the Top 40 in markets such as Australia, Germany, and France. Tompkins’ own seven-track EP Who Do You Pray To followed in March 2022. Capitalizing on that momentum, he spent the next couple of years writing and recording his debut album, 2024’s hi, my name is insecure, which continued his focus on mental health and emotive songwriting.