Calum Scott

Calum Scott honed his huge, honeyed pipes singing other people’s songs, but he didn’t fully find his voice until he began creating his own intimate pop vignettes. Born in 1988, in the Northern England city of Kingston upon Hull, Scott first took up the drums, while his sister Jade became the singer of the family. Eventually, Jade discovered her brother’s natural way with a fierce falsetto and chilling vibrato and signed him up for a local singing competition in 2013. He sang Paolo Nutini’s “Last Request” and won. Following that thrill of performing in front of a crowd, Scott joined Maroon 4, a Maroon 5 cover band, before tagging along with Jade at an audition for the ninth series of Britain’s Got Talent. There, with a stunning, slowed-down version of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” he blew away the judges, especially the notoriously scathing Simon Cowell, who pressed the “Golden Buzzer”, sending Scott directly to the live semifinals. Nerves got the better of him in the finals, and while he didn’t win, the singer used that exposure to launch his solo career and start writing material for his 2018 debut album, Only Human. Like his showstopping Robyn cover, Scott’s original songs are both poignant and empowering, especially the swaying, gospel-tinged celebration “You Are the Reason” and the piano-powered tearjerker “No Matter What”, a raw retelling of his experience coming out to his parents. Such personal tales bring out a sincerity and soulfulness that show Scott’s songwriting to be just as moving as his voice.