Emeli Sandé was born in the North East England city of Sunderland to Zambian technology and maths teacher Joel Sandé and his Caucasian English wife. The family moved to rural Alford in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in October 1992 – they were the first mixed-race family to live in the village. Sandé wrote the song "Mountains" about her parents and the struggles that they faced.
Her music career began when Sandé's sister sent a video of Emeli playing the piano and singing to Trevor Nelson's BBC Urban music competition. She won and was offered a record deal, but the management that the teenager met via the competition decided it wasn't right for her at the time. "It was the first way I got my foot in the industry and saw what the industry was about," Sandé recalled to Fresh 102.7. "I was 16 and I worked with a lot of artists that have come from these big reality shows."
Sandé studied medicine in a five-year course at the University of Glasgow, where she obtained a degree in neuroscience. The song "My Kind of Love" was inspired by her time as a medical student at a Glasgow hospital.
See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.
Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.