Sam Roberts


Sam Roberts is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter who has released six albums and has been signed to Universal since 2002. His debut EP The Inhuman Condition, reached the Canadian charts in 2002. He has released albums as a solo artist and three albums credited as the Sam Roberts Band. He is also a member of Canadian supergroup Anyway Gang, who released their debut self-title album in 2019. Roberts has been nominated, together with his band, for fourteen Juno Awards, winning six, including Artist of the Year twice. From the beginning of his career to 2016, Roberts was among the top 60 best-selling Canadian artists in Canada.

Early life and Northstar

Born in Westmount, to South African immigrants who had arrived in Montreal three weeks earlier, Roberts grew up on Cedar Avenue in Pointe-Claire, where his family moved to when he was five years old. Roberts is an alumnus of St. Edmund Elementary School, Beaconsfield, Loyola High School, N.D.G. and John Abbott College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue and McGill University. He holds a BA in English from McGill University, graduating in 1998. Roberts' first band was William in 1993, that changed into Northstar in 1998. As William they put out a single, "The Piranha" in 1996, while as Northstar they released a self-titled EP in 1998, but never got a major record contract and broke up in 1999.

As a solo artist (2002–2010)

After disbanding Northstar, Roberts recorded a twelve track demo, "Brother Down", which formed the basis for the EP, The Inhuman Condition released in 2002. Recorded with Jordan Zadorozny, Roberts "recorded a song a day". Roberts signed with Secret Weapon Management and began to perform live. With the assistance of Linda Bush at Universal he signed a record contract with MapleMusic Recordings. MapleMusic released the six track EP culled from the demo with Roberts noting that "it is not something I had intended to be my first real foray into the music world but I couldn't turn my back on such a chance". It included two breakthrough singles, "Brother Down" and "Don't Walk Away Eileen" which were heavily promoted in the Canadian market.
In August 2002, Roberts signed with Universal Music. In November 2002, Roberts won the CASBY Award for "Favourite New Artist". In 2003, he released his major label debut album, We Were Born in a Flame, with the singles "Where Have All the Good People Gone?" and "Hard Road" garnering success in the Canadian market.The album won two Juno Awards in 2004: Album of the Year and Rock Album of the Year, with Roberts winning the Juno award for Artist of the Year.
in 2007.
Robert's second album, Chemical City, was released in April 2006, with the first single "The Gate" topping as a No. 1 hit on Canadian radio. The second single, "Bridge to Nowhere", won the Juno Award for Video of the Year in 2007. The third single released on Canadian radio, "With a Bullet", received little critical acclaim and no video for it was released.
Roberts' third album, Love at the End of the World, released in May 2008, debuted at No. 1 on the Canadian album chart, a first for Roberts. The lead single, "Them Kids", debuted on iTunes on March 4, 2008. Roberts again won the Juno award for Artist of the Year and the album took home Rock Album of the Year.

As Sam Roberts Band (2011–present)

Roberts released his fourth studio album, Collider, on May 10, 2011. It is the first album under the moniker "Sam Roberts Band" instead of "Sam Roberts". The first single, "I Feel You" was officially released to Canadian radio on February 28, with an iTunes Canada release of March 8.
On November 20, 2013, Roberts announced the release of next album, Lo-Fantasy, which was released by Paper Bag Records on February 11, 2014. Sam Roberts' Band released the Counting the Days EP on April 18, 2015.
Their sixth regular studio album, Terraform, was released October 28, 2016. On September 12, 2016, a North-American tour was announced to promote their new album.

Sam Roberts Band members

The members of the Sam Roberts Band as of 2011 are:

As Sam Roberts

Juno Awards

The Juno Awards is a Canadian awards ceremony presented annually by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

MuchMusic Video Awards

The MuchMusic Video Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic. Roberts has received five awards from fourteen nominations.

Notable performances