Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel, professionally better known as Seal, is a ‘Grammy Award’-winning British singer-songwriter and musician. He is known internationally for hits, such as ‘Crazy,’ ‘Kiss from a Rose,’ and ‘Love’s Divine.’
Background
Ethnicity:
Henry's mother was Nigerian, and his father was of Brazilian descent.
Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel was born on 19 February 1963 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, United Kingdom, to a Nigerian mother, Adebisi Ogundeji, and a Brazilian father, Francis Samuel. He was raised by white foster parents from Romford, Essex, but was later reclaimed by his natural mother at the age of four. Soon after, he came under the care of his father in Kilburn, where he says he suffered beatings until he finally left home aged 15.
Education
Seal graduated from university with a degree in architecture before he began his musical career.
Career
Before pursuing music, Seal worked a variety of jobs, from electrical engineering to posting ads for London prostitutes; the latter occupation resulted in an arrest.
Seal’s musical journey began with minor gigs in local bars and pubs. In 1987, he joined the British funk band ‘Push’ and travelled to Japan, Thailand and India with them.
Though he initially refused to be taken on by labels, Seal scored a major hit back in London with producer Adamski and the single ‘Killer,’ which went to the top of U.K. charts. The song helped Seal grow in his career and gain public attention. He then signed with ZTT Records, the label of producer Trever Horn, whom would work on the singer's first four studio albums.
Seal made his full-length, self-titled album debut in 1991 and scored with the moody, socially aware single ‘Crazy,’ which reached the Top 10 of Billboard's pop chart. It took him three years to complete his second album, ‘Seal II.’ This album too was released by Trevor Horn in 1994.
Four years later Seal released his next project, Human Being, and though it was critically well-received, it did not do well commercially. Suffering from writers' block, the musician left Los Angeles, where he'd lived during most of the Nineties, to return to London. After a couple of years, he returned back to California, where he released his next album, 'Seal IV' in 2004.
In 2007, he released ‘System,’ for which he had collaborated with producer Stuart Price. ‘System’ was more dance-oriented compared to his other albums. It was followed by the 2008 album ‘Soul’. A year later, ‘Hits,’ a compilation album, was released.
The seventh album of Seal was entitled ‘Seal 6: Commitment’. It became available on September 20, 2010, internationally and a week later in the United States.
Seal released his eighth album, ‘Soul 2,’ a cover album of classic soul music, in November 2011. On November 6, 2015, his album ‘7’ was released.
Seal's most recent work includes the album ‘Standards,’ which was released on November 2017, after which he went to Australia to work as a vocal coach.
Seal has been a renowned artist since the 1990s. His best hits include singles ‘Crazy’, ‘Killer’, ‘Love's Divine’, ‘Kiss from A Rose’ and ‘Prayer for the Dying.’
During his music career, Seal has sold more than 20 million records worldwide and won multiple awards, including four Grammy Awards and an MTV Video Music Award. As a songwriter, he also received three Ivor Novello Awards for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.
Seal has actively donated large amounts of money to charity. In 2012, he shared the stage with other celebrities at a charity event for Brad Pitt’s ‘Night to Make It Right Foundation,’ hosted by Aziz Ansari.
On 15 November 2014, Seal joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa.
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Seal has a rare form of lupus due to which he started to develop scars on his face when he turned 23.
Quotes from others about the person
"I know a lot of people talk about Seal's bicycle shorts, but it is the truth! That is what he was wearing the first time I met him and I was overwhelmed." - Heidi Klum
"When I saw him, I was like, wow! He is different and so tall and dark and just handsome. I saw the package — and I mean the whole package, literally. I was like, 'That is a man.'" - Heidi Klum
Connections
Seal at one point dated supermodel Tyra Banks during the earlier part of his career. He later married Project Runway host Heidi Klum in 2005. The couple later had two sons, Henry Günther Adeola Dashtu and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo, and a daughter, Lou Sulola. In 2009, Seal also adopted Klum's child from the previous relationship, Helene “Leni” Boshoven Klum. However, in 2014, Seal and Klum got divorced. Since then, Seal is single and lives in Australia.
