Sam Roberts

Sam Roberts
Roberts performing in New York, NY in February 2014.
Background information
Born	(1974-10-02) October 2, 1974 Westmount, Quebec, Canada
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Rock, Indie rock, Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals Guitar Bass Violin
Years active	2000 - present
Labels	Secret Brain MapleMusic Recordings Universal Music Canada Cordova Bay UK Pony Canyon (Japan) Lost Highway Records (USA)
Website	Sam Roberts Band
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-335, Fender Telecaster, Fender Jazzmaster

Sam Roberts (born October 2, 1974) is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, whose 2001 debut release, The Inhuman Condition, became one of the bestselling independent releases in Quebec and Canadian music history.

Life and career

Sam Roberts performing at Lollapalooza in 2007.

Born in Westmount, to South African immigrants who had arrived in Montreal three weeks earlier,^[1] Roberts grew up on Cedar Avenue in Pointe-Claire, where his family moved to when he was five years old. Roberts is an alumnus of St. Edmund Elementary School, Beaconsfield, Loyola High School, N.D.G. and John Abbott College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue and McGill University. Roberts' first band was William in 1993, then changed to Northstar in 1996. Although prominent in the local indie rock scene, the band never got a major record contract and broke up in 1999.^[2] Roberts' bandmate George Donoso went on with The Dears, leaving Roberts to struggle for several years.

Disbanding Northstar, Roberts recorded his homemade demo, Brother Down. In 2001, Roberts recorded and independently released the EP, The Inhuman Condition. It wasn't promoted much but following a record contract with MapleMusic Recordings, Roberts' two breakthrough singles, "Brother Down" (released in mid-2002) and "Don't Walk Away Eileen" (released in late 2002) were heavily promoted in the Canadian market.

Signing with Universal Music, he released his debut album We Were Born in a Flame in June 2003, with the singles "Where Have All the Good People Gone?" and "Hard Road" garnering success in the Canadian market.

Robert's second album, Chemical City, was released in April 2006, with the first single "The Gate" topping as a #1 hit on Canadian radio. The second single, "Bridge to Nowhere", won the Juno Award for Video of the Year in 2007. The third single released on Canadian radio, "With a Bullet", received little critical acclaim and no video for it was released.

Roberts' third album, Love at the End of the World, released in May 2008, debuted at #1 on the Canadian album chart,^[3] a first for Roberts. The lead single, "Them Kids", debuted on iTunes on March 4, 2008.

Sam Roberts is fluent in English, French and Spanish. Roberts married his high school sweetheart Jen in 2004 and they have three children.^[4]

For the past several years, Sam Roberts has played annually at the Kee to Bala in Bala, ON, in the Muskoka region.

Roberts released his fourth studio album, Collider, on May 10, 2011.^[5] It is the first album under the moniker "Sam Roberts Band" instead of "Sam Roberts".^[6] The first single, "I Feel You" was officially released to Canadian radio on February 28, with an iTunes Canada release of March 8.
They have confirmed via their Twitter account that work has begun on their next album.^[7]

On November 20, 2013, Roberts announced the release of next album, Lo-Fantasy,^[8] which was released by Paper Bag Records on February 11, 2014. Sam Roberts' Band released Counting the Days EP on April 18, 2015.^[9]

The Sam Roberts Band will be headlining the December 31, 2015 New Years Eve festivities in Brampton, Ontario.^[10]

Band members

The members of the Sam Roberts Band as of 2011 are:

• Sam Roberts (lead vocals, guitar)
• Dave Nugent (lead guitar)
• Eric Fares (keyboard, guitar)
• James Hall (bass)
• Josh Trager (drums)
• Chet Doxas (horns)

Discography

• Brother Down (2000)
• We Were Born in a Flame (2003)
• Chemical City (2006)
• Love at the End of the World (2008)
• Collider (2011)
• Lo-Fantasy (2014)

Awards and nominations

Juno Awards

The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

MuchMusic Video Awards

The MuchMusic Video Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic. Roberts has received five awards from fourteen nominations.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Notable performances

• July 31, 2003: Opening performer at Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto, otherwise referred to as SARStock, promoted to mitigate the economic downturn in Toronto following a limited outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
• June 12, 2003: National Hockey League's (NHL) NHL Awards ceremony main performer
• November 16, 2003: Canadian Football League's (CFL) 91st Grey Cup halftime show in Regina, Saskatchewan.
• July 2, 2005: Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario.
• January 1, 2008: AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, outdoor ice hockey game in Buffalo, New York.
• August 2, 2008: Opened for The Eagles in Moncton, New Brunswick
• March 29, 2009: Performed at the 2009 Juno Awards
• July 18,19 2009: Performed at Folk on the Rocks, in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
• August 7, 2009: Performed a free concert at Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, in honour of Sidney Crosby and his Stanley Cup win.
• February 20, 2010: Performed at 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
• December 31, 2010: Performed free concert in Brampton, Ontario for New Year's Eve celebrations.
• June 25, 2011: Performed at Bobcaygeon Musicfest in Bobcaygeon.
• July 1, 2011: Performed a free concert in Ottawa on Canada Day for Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
• September 9, 2011: Performed at University of Toronto's FROSH week.
• September 20, 2011: Performed at Mohawk College's FROSH week.
• December 31, 2013: Performed at Niagara Falls' New Year's concert alongside Serena Ryder and Demi Lovato.

See also

• Canadian rock
• Music of Canada

References

External links

• Sam Roberts Band
• Sam Roberts at the Internet Movie Database
• Sam Roberts Band collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive