ESC 2022
He catapulted Great Britain into second place: This is “Space Man” Sam Ryder
Sam Ryder at his ESC appearance in Turin
© Marco BERTORELLO / AFP
With his song “Space Man” he came second at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin and caused a new ESC euphoria in Great Britain. Here’s what you need to know about musician Sam Ryder.
He delighted the audience in Turin and has the British raving about the ESC again: 32-year-old Sam Ryder won the Eurovision Song Contest with his song “Space Man” sensational second place. According to the jury’s evaluation, the musician was even in the lead with 283 points, only the audience votes clearly won Ukraine in the end. Despite this, Ryder scored 466 points overall, which was Britain’s best since 1998.
The former winning nation had to put up with severe defeats in recent years and often only languished in the lower ranks. Last year’s candidate, James Newman, even went home with zero points – a debacle. Also in 2019 Great Britain took last place. In 2020, the ESC was canceled due to the corona pandemic. The joy of Sam Ryder’s triumph is all the greater.
The musician with the long blond hair and a penchant for overalls was born on June 25, 1989 in the small town of Maldon in the British county of Essex. He reportedly discovered his interest in music after attending a concert by Canadian punk rock band Sum 41 when he was 11. “There are some of us who still remember him. He was a personable, cheeky boy. My colleague and I helped organize the school’s talent shows and music events, and we also remember his band, The Morning After.” , a former Ryder teacher told local newspaper Essex Live.
Sam Ryder ran a vegan juice bar with his girlfriend
The group formed Ryder at the age of 19. Later he played in different bands, recorded a solo album in Nashville, hired himself out as a wedding musician, worked in construction and opened with his longtime girlfriend Lois Gaskin Barber a vegan juice bar in Coggeshall, UK. In 2019 they closed the shop with the beautiful name “Lone Wolves Organic Juice Bar”.
And then came the Corona lockdown in 2020. Ryder passed the time uploading cover versions of well-known songs to his TikTok channel. It’s something a lot of musicians do, but the 32-year-old has had tremendous success. Twelve million people watched his videos, including stars like Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys and Elton John. At the end of 2020, he was the UK artist with the most TikTok followers and landed a record deal.
He allegedly wrote his hit “Space Man”, which has now catapulted him to second place at the ESC, in 15 minutes during the corona lockdown. The title was selected as the British ESC contribution jointly by the BBC and the artist agency TaP Music, which also represents stars such as Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey. Ryder not only brought Great Britain the best ESC placement since 1998 – at that time singer Imaani also took second place – but also the BBC top ratings. At peak times, 10.6 million people watched.
Fans who now want to experience Sam Ryder live should be told: The 32-year-old will come for four in October concerts to Germany.
Source: “Daily Mail”, “EssexLive”