Few people could have anticipated Lewis Capaldi’s sudden rise to fame. Three years ago, the West Lothian singer-songwriter was catapulted from emerging artist to international superstar with the release of his debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.
His single Someone You Loved - taken from the album - spent 31 weeks in the Top 10, a record for a British act. Seven of those weeks were spent at number one.
The 25-year-old has spoken of how the runaway success of the song was ‘surreal’. He doesn’t believe he will ever match it again, either.
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In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: “I don’t deserve to have a No 1 for seven weeks – no one deserves to have a No1 for seven weeks. It’s an anomaly.
“When a song does that, it’s so much bigger than you. I felt it was happening to someone else and I was just watching.”
Capaldi has also spoken publicly about how much he fears making a follow-up album in case it doesn’t live up to expectations. Last year he postponed his scheduled gigs to focus on completing it.
But, with the album expected later in the year, this summer he is back performing live. He was at Parklife in Manchester last week and is set for headline appearances at the Isle of Wight Festival on Friday night and TRNSMT in Glasgow on Sunday 10 July.
With Capaldi back on the stage, we have taken a closer look at his stratospheric rise from West Lothian pub singer to the prince of heartbreak pop.
Lewis Capaldi’s early life
Capaldi, born in Glasgow in 1996, is of Scottish, Irish and Italian ancestry. On his father's side, his second cousin once removed is Doctor Who actor Peter Capaldi, who was in the music video for Someone You Loved.
His mother is a nurse, his father a fishmonger, and he is the youngest of four children. He was raised in West Lothian - going to school at St. Kentigern's Academy in Blackburn - and he was a keen musician from an early age, performing in Bathgate pubs aged nine.
He was determined to pursue a career in the music industry from the age of 17 and he graduated with a HND in Music from New College Lanarkshire, Motherwell, in 1996.
Lewis Capaldi’s biggest hits
Capaldi’s manager, Ryan Walter, discovered the singer through an iPhone video uploaded to SoundCloud. Walter flew from America to Britain a day after contacting Capaldi to watch him perform.
Capaldi’s debut EP, Bloom, was released in 2017. Bruises, the first track he released, racked up more than 25m plays on Spotify across the globe - making him the fastest ever unsigned artist to reach that landmark on the streaming service.
But his career really took off when Someone You Loved was released late in 2018. Along with its UK success, it charted in 29 countries around the world.
It even went to number one in the US, the first Scottish solo artist to do so since Sheena Easton in 1981. And it was nominated for Song of the Year at the Grammy and Brit awards - winning the latter.
The following year, his debut album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent spent five weeks at number one in its first six weeks of release. It became the best selling album in the UK in five years.
Alongside his song writing abilities, Capaldi has proved popular thanks to his grounded sense of humour. His hilarious social media videos have made him a favourite with fellow stars and fans alike.
Why did Lewis Capaldi delay his live performances?
In 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Capaldi was coming to the end of his touring cycle for Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent. With all live gigs cancelled, he was able to put his energy into making his second album.
However, in March 2021, he announced he was postponing his scheduled live performances for the year to concentrate on completing the new record.
He wrote on Twitter: "I'd be lying if I said I haven't been terrified about making my next album since the moment I finished Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent. I’ve been writing loads of tunes I’m really excited about and I can’t wait for you to hear them.
"I really want to make sure whatever I put out next is the absolute best it can be, partly for my own sanity, cause I'm going to have to sing these songs every night for the next few years on tour, but ultimately for all of you who made the first album everything it was. Despite having all this extra time to write, all the COVID restrictions have made it harder to go and record stuff I've been working on or even be around all the people I loved working with on the first album.
"For that reason, it is with an extremely heavy heart that I've made the difficult decision to reschedule this year's shows and put all my effort into making the best album I can for you."
In May, it was reported that Capaldi had shot a video for a new single at Windsor’s Theatre Royal, which was described by a source as ‘eclectic, surreal’ and ‘top secret’.
