Sam Ryder Trivia | 40 facts about the singer and TikToker

Sam Ryder is a singer and TikToker, who represented United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

Let’s find out more about Sam Ryder!

1. Sam Ryder was born on 25th of June 1989.
2. He is a British singer-songwriter and social media personality.
3. Sam Ryder rose to prominence through TikTok, after posting music covers during the first lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. He represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with the song “Space Man”.
5. At Eurovision he won the jury voting and came in second place after the public voting.
6. Sam Ryder was born on 25 June 1989 in Essex.
7. He went to the St John Payne Catholic School in Chelmsford between 2000 and 2007.
8. He began singing when he was a child.
9. He was inspired to pursue a career in music after seeing the Canadian rock band Sum 41 live in concert aged 11.
10. Sam Ryder is a big fan of Eurovision and has memories of watching the contest with his family while growing up in the Essex countryside.
11. His musical awakening occurred in his early teens when after a trip to a nunnery he discovered an album of English heavy metal band Iron Maiden.
12. His first job was delivering papers for The Essex Chronicle as a child.
13. He has a sister who lives in Sydney, Australia and he regularly visits the country whenever he can.
14. He revealed that he was inspired to learn how to play the guitar after the Finnish rock band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006.
15. Sam Ryder made his debut as a singer and guitarist in the music industry in 2009. At the age of 19 he co-founded the band The Morning After, and together they released two studio albums.
16. Following his time with the band in 2010, he toured as a guitarist for the Canadian band Blessed by a Broken Heart.
17. In 2012, he was announced as the band’s new lead vocalist and contributed to their Billboard charting album Feel the Power.
18. They split in 2013, and he began working as a frontman for the American rock band Close Your Eyes.
19. Sam Ryder released one album with them called Line in the Sand, and left in 2014.
20. In 2016 he travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record an album with producer Bryan Wilson. However the album was never released.
21. He spent some time performing at weddings and clubs.
22. While uploading covers during the pandemic he caught the attention of musicians such as Sia, Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys and Elton John.
23. By the end of the same year, he became the most-followed UK artist on the platform.
24. He later signed a record contract with Parlophone and with manager David May.
25. In 2021, he released his debut EP, The Sun’s Gonna Rise, which has received over 100 million global streams. It was followed up with a sold-out tour.
26. Ryder wrote “Space Man” during the pandemic before it was chosen to represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022.
27. In January, the song was sent to TaP Music and the BBC, and in the same month he accepted their offer to represent the country in the contest.
28. On 10 March 2022, the BBC announced Ryder as the UK representative at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 with “Space Man”.
29. He toured Europe between March and May 2022 to promote his Eurovision entry. In an interview for Sky News, Ryder spoke about the injury he had sustained in Madrid during his tour after crashing into a metal bar.
30. On 12 May 2022, the BBC aired a documentary titled Sam Ryder: Road to Eurovision, which was made available to watch on BBC iPlayer and YouTube, and gives an exclusive look behind the scenes of Ryder’s journey to Eurovision.
31. He finished in second place at the Eurovision final with 466 points, becoming the highest-scoring UK Eurovision entrant. He won the jury vote and also scored the UK its best result since 1998 and its first top three since 2002.
32. Ryder also won the Marcel Bezençon Press Award, becoming the first UK act to win a Bezençon Award.
33. Ryder will support Paloma Faith during her summer concert in Hatfield Park, and is set to embark on a European tour between October and November 2022.
34. Ryder has spent most of his adult life touring, writing, and performing for other bands and once resided in Hawaii.
35. He is a vegan and once owned a vegan café in Coggeshall, England.
36. He likes to surf the English coast in his free time, travel, snowboard, drive around race tracks and skate.
37. He also once worked as a construction worker.
38. Ryder is in a long-term relationship with his partner Lois.
39. Ryder believes in aliens, and once wanted to pursue a career as an astronaut.
40. He claims that he once saw a UFO while in Hawaii as a child