Seal wandered through clubs, Japan and India before “Kiss from a Rose”

Seal's start in music was far from direct. Born in Paddington, London, in 1963 to a Nigerian mother and a Brazilian father, he was raised by a foster family in Westminster. He earned a two-year diploma in architecture and worked various jobs around London before singing in local clubs and bars in the 1980s.

In 1987 he joined a British funk band called Push and toured Japan with them. In Thailand he joined a blues band for a while, then travelled through India on his own. Back in England he slept on the couch of his friend Julian Bunster, who told him he sang better than most current artists. Then he met the producer Adamski and provided lyrics and vocals for Adamski's single “Killer”, which eventually reached number one in the UK.

That led to ZTT Records and a self-titled debut in 1991, produced by Trevor Horn. The album exists in two versions, an original premix and a more common updated mix. The singles “Crazy”, “Future Love Paradise” and his own version of “Killer” charted well. “Crazy” became an international hit, reaching number two in the UK and number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 1992 Brit Awards he took three trophies, Best British Male, Best British Video for “Killer” and Best British Album, the first such hat-trick in the event's history.

His second self-titled album in 1994 reached number one in the UK, and “Kiss from a Rose” topped the Billboard Hot 100 after appearing on the soundtracks of The NeverEnding Story III and Batman Forever. Seal has won three Brit Awards and four Grammys, and “Killer” and “Crazy” each earned him an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting. He has also sung with Jeff Beck and appeared on Herbie Hancock's The Imagine Project, and has sold more than 20 million albums or singles.