Sam Smith Conquers His Fears To Thrill Fans In Montreux
British soul singer Sam Smith is back, and Smith is back with a bang. Sam has had a difficult few months after having to abandon his tour as a result of a hemorrhage on his vocal chords. Voice rest failed to cure the problem and, as a result, Smith had to fly to the U.S., where he had surgery to resolve the problem. After the operation Smith was ordered to maintain six weeks of complete vocal rest to avoid scarring his vocal chords.
The last couple of weeks have seen Smith with more of a smile on his face as he was able to talk again. Smith has risen to prominence over the past couple of years as he scooped multiple awards and saw his album, In The Lonely Hour, become the only one to sell one million copies on both sides of the atlantic. The cancellation of his tour and a number of high profile festival appearances must have been a huge blow to Smith’s career aspirations.
Smith will have breathed a huge sigh of relief when he was finally able to get back on stage last weekend. Cambridge News reports that Sam played a gig at Thetford forest, and by all accounts he was back to his soulful best. Being able to deliver a fine vocal performance without any apparent discomfort will have been a huge boost to Smith. Especially as The List reports that Sam has admitted to Kiss FM that he was terrified about his return to the stage.
“I am. I’m scared. If anyone’s listening I’m really going to try my absolute best, but I am scared though. It’s quite intense to go into. But I love what I do and I wanted to do it, and hopefully I can hold it all together and perform every show.”
That fear will have been particularly acute as Sam prepared for a show that is undoubtably the highlight of his career to date. Last night Smith made his debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Smith was clearly thrilled to be able to play at the iconic music event which is now in its 49th year. According to the Sun Daily Sam told the audience how excited he was to be following in the footsteps of the great artists who went before him.
“Wow, this is amazing to me for many reasons, I get to play a jazz festival which is historic. I saw Claude Nobs’ house yesterday and got to see all the history that has happened over more than 40 years, all of my idols.”
Smith delivered a smooth and polished 70-minute performance during which he delivered the majority of his debut disc and some smooth jazz classics like “My Funny Valentine.” The Montreux crowd, who paid $100 for a ticket, were thrilled by Smiths performance and at the close Sam promised them that he would return next year.
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
