QCA Music: Sam Sparro

Sam Sparro, a 25-year-old Australian singer-songwriter, music producer and former child actor, recently released his first full-album 21st Century Life. He’s the son of a gospel minister and recording artist and you can hear the influence in his music. “I know, I know, you hear the word gospel and you think big and loud and definitely black,” Sam said. “Imagine Bob Dylan doing gospel and you’re kind of there.”
Sam was born in Sydney and raised in LA, but he takes many of his cultural cues from European performers like Soul II Soul, Kraftwerk, Grace Jones, Sade and Nenah Cherry as well as Euro-dance hits like ‘Ride On Time’ have captivated him. “I honestly think that’s where I got my vocal from,” he decides. “I’d sing along to Black Box, Whitney and C&C Music Factory, and slowly this big voice just emerged.”
Continuing in the artistic vein, Sam designs his own artwork, makes funny behind-the-scenes videos for YouTube and DJ’s the occasional warehouse party. “I’m just a guy who likes to sing and wear fun clothes, who wants to have a laugh and wants everyone to get along,” says Sam. “I want my music to take people out of their own life a bit and make them feel happy and feel that they’re more than what they think they are, whatever that is. The world is not as ordinary as people want you to think it is. If the music can make you forget about your stupid job and your bills and your relationship problems for half an hour, I’m happy with that.”
Check out his MySpace page. You can also hear his entire album if you’re curious. But be sure to also buy it, eh?
See Sparro’s first single, Black and Gold, and another video after the jump!

BLACK AND GOLD: When Sam was forced to leave London and head back to Los Angeles, he took a job at a coffee shop. It was during some low moments that ‘Black and Gold’ was written. “I was feeling totally lost,” he remembers. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I was making cappuccino’s when I felt I should be onstage singing. That track came out of me looking up to the stars and seeing myself as a tiny speck in this infinite solar-system.”

COTTONMOUTH: Before you get all happy that Sam Sparrow smokes the dank, take a closer listen to the lyrics—cottonmouth seems to be a problem, not a solution.