SAMPHA

Sampha Sisay, who goes by only his first name, is a British alternative R&B artist known for lending his vocals to tracks by Drake, Kanye West, SBTRKT and Jessie Ware. In 2017 he won the Mercury Prize for his debut album Process, which went to number seven on the UK's Official Albums Chart. Born on 16 November 1988 in London to parents who had emigrated from Sierra Leone in the 1980s, he learned to play musical instruments as a child and started working as a grime MC. Producing with the name Kid Nova in 2007, he met record producer Kwes and signed with the iconic Young Turks label. He released several EPs, worked on SBTRKT's self-titled 2011 album and collaborated with Solange on the single "Don't Touch My Hair," which peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart in 2016, and with Drake on "4422," which went to number 28. His voice can be heard on Beyoncé's "Mine," Kanye West's "Saint Pablo," Drake's "Too Much" and Frank Ocean's "Alabama." In 2017, his album Process triumphed at the annual Mercury Prize over Kate Tempest, Stormzy and Ed Sheeran, declared Album of the Year and spawning a hit single in "(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano." He worked as a featured artist on several other singles, including Lil Silva's 2022 track "Backwards" and "L.F.O" by Sbtrkt. He contributed a track to the Rye Lane soundtrack in 2023—Kwes's "Open Up," which also featured Tirzah—while that same year saw the release of his long-awaited critically acclaimed second album Lahai, which reached number 21 in the UK and went to number one on the UK R&B Albums chart.