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Seal Bio

Born as Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adelo Samuel on February 19, 1963 in Kilburn, a small town near Pattington, England to a Nigerian father and Brazilian mother. Married to Victoria's Secret supermodel Heidi Klum and had two children with Klum. Shortly after his birth he was sent away to white foster parents near London to be reclaimed by his mother when he was four. Two years later she fell ill and returned to her homeland, sending Seal to live with his father who he claims, to this day, abused him. Seal ran away at the age of 15, only to return years later to transport his father's remains to Nigeria. He graduated with a degree in architecture and landed jobs at McDonald's and as an electrical engineering and a leather clothing designer. In the 1980s he joined Push, an English funk band, and toured with them in Japan. In Asia, he joined a blues band in Thailand for awhile before separating from the group and journeying throughout India on his own.

When Seal arrived back in England, he met Adamski, a producer who was impressed by him. He was given the lyrics of the song "Killer" which later on was a huge hit in 1990. After his tremendous hit he recorded his self-titled album, Seal (1991) and released it in 1991, including the song "Killer." The single, "Crazy", entered the U.K. Charts. The album sold over three million copies.

Seal appeared on the Jimi Hendrix tribute album, Stone Free while recording his second album. After three years of waiting it was finally released in the summer of 1994. His sophomore album was also self-titled Seal (1994). "Prayer for the Dying" was one of the album's hit single. Another of the album's hits, "Kiss From a Rose," was included in the Batman Forever soundtrack in 1995 and led him to win three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year in 1996. When the movie showed the song became an instant hit. It peaked at #1 on the Pop Single Charts and stayed on the Adult Contemporary Charts for 45 weeks.Seal (1994) has sold more than five million copies.

In 1998, his third album, Human Being, was released which included the singles, "Human Beings" and "Lost My Faith," which was used in the blockbuster film, Entrapment. Being released on Super Tuesday, the CD release day in November 1998 when a record amount of popular artists released albums, Human Being was a record sales flop, due in part to the album's poor promotion. After his fourth studio album, Togetherland--which he had produced with Henry Jackman and without long-time producer Trevor Horn--was finally rejected by his record company, Warner Bros., in 2002 for lack of a "hit single," he went back in the studio with Horn to record what would be Seal IV. It should be noted that despite being quoted on the now-defunct fan website SealFans.net as saying Warner Bros. executives had ultimately rejected Togetherland, Seal's official word is that he put the record in the vault because he himself was overall unsatisfied with the album. Seal IV hit stores in September 2003 and included the singles, "Get It Together," "Love's Divine," and "Waiting for You." Next year, Seal went on to release Best: 1991-2004, a two-disc greatest hits compilation that included one disc of just his hits and a second acoustic (unplugged) disc of hit songs and other Seal favorites. Both discs included versions of a cover of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By."

In 2005, Seal released Live In Paris, a CD/DVD live recording from a performance at the Olympia Bruno Coquatrix in Paris, France on July 6, 2004 during the European leg of his tour to promote Seal IV. He released his fifth studio album, System, in November 2007, featuring the singles "The Right Life" and "Amazing," the lead single which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Thanks so much to Clayton ( Clay's Seal page )