George Ezra British Singer Born 1993 in Hertford

George Ezra is a British singer-songwriter whose music draws on folk and blues. He was born George Ezra Barnett on 7 June 1993 in Hertford, Hertfordshire. He plays guitar and bass guitar, and he has released his records through Columbia. He first reached a wide audience with the single "Budapest" and has since put out three studio albums.

Early life

Ezra grew up in Hertford, where both of his parents worked as teachers. His education included Bengeo Primary School, Simon Balle School and Hertford Regional College. In 2011 he moved to Bristol to study songwriting at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. He has an older sister, Jessica, and a younger brother, Ethan, who also writes and performs music under the name Ten Tonnes.

As a teenager he became fascinated with Bob Dylan, which led him to seek out older American folk and blues recordings by Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie and Howlin' Wolf. He has named Dylan and Guthrie as his main influences.

Career

In June 2013 Ezra performed on the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury Festival. That October he released his first EP, Did You Hear the Rain?, and the songs "Did You Hear the Rain?" and "Budapest" received regular airplay on BBC Radio 1 over the following weeks. He was included on several lists of acts to watch in 2014 and placed fifth in the BBC Sound of 2014 poll. A second EP, Cassy O', came out in March 2014.

"Budapest" was released in the United Kingdom in June 2014, and his debut album Wanted on Voyage appeared at the end of that month. The record entered the UK chart at number three and reached number one in early October. By the end of the year it had sold 678,156 copies in Britain, and it ranked as the third-best-selling album of 2014 there. Among its other singles were "Blame It on Me" and "Listen to the Man", the video for which featured the actor Ian McKellen. At the 2015 Brit Awards he received four nominations. In 2015 he opened for Sam Smith on a North American tour, appeared as musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and released the single "Barcelona". The same year he won at the YouTube Music Awards.

His second album, Staying at Tamara's, was released on 23 March 2018 and reached number one in the United Kingdom. Its singles included "Paradise" and "Shotgun"; the latter became his first chart-topping single in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Other singles from the period were "Hold My Girl" and "Pretty Shining People". In February 2019 he won the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist. He headlined the Neighbourhood Weekender festival in Warrington in May 2019 and played the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury the following month.

In 2018 he also began a podcast, George Ezra & Friends, in which he interviews other musicians.

Ezra announced his third album, Gold Rush Kid, in early 2022. It was written and produced in London with his longtime collaborator Joel Pott and released on 10 June 2022 through Columbia. It became his third consecutive number-one album in the United Kingdom. Singles from the project included "Anyone for You (Tiger Lily)", "Green Green Grass", "Dance All Over Me" and "I Went Hunting". In June 2022 he performed at the Platinum Party at the Palace, held for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. A documentary about a walk from Land's End to John o' Groats made with two friends, End to End, was shown in cinemas for a single day in August 2022 and reached Amazon Prime in the United Kingdom in January 2023.

Recognition

Ezra won the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist in 2019 and an award at the YouTube Music Awards in 2015.