Seal Biography

On ‘Togetherland’, the never-released album:
“I made this one album and got to the end of it, but it did not resonate the way I wanted it to... that was a problem, because the one thing that people expect from me is this feeling of empathy, that they have been engaged with my music... so if it was not doing it for me, then how could it do it for others? So I scrapped it and started again.”

His reaction to the success of ‘Killer’ in 1990:
“Adamski and myself were in one of those family inn restaurants on a Sunday near Cambridge. The week before we were No. 4 and Madonna was No. 1. We'd borrowed a £7.99 combat radio so we could hear the chart rundown, and we had it on really low. Madonna was No. 4 so there was obviously a new No. 1. Then they played No. 3 and it wasn't us. It was between us and the Adventures of Stevie V. and they said, 'This week's No. 2... the Adventures of Stevie V.' And I let out this huge roar. Honestly, families around us were going for their children, there was this six-foot-four black man gone wild in Cambridgeshire.”

On dealing with his sudden fame:
“People around me helped me through it, my best friend Paul and my manager and a couple of romances. Surrounded by sycophants, you become more judgmental. Anyone I met, I was thinking: 'What does this person want from me?' About a year ago I made a conscious decision: do you like this, do you like the gig? How much of yourself are you prepared to give away? Either become comfortable with it, or get out.”

On hearing his material on radio:
“It sounded better on the radio than it did on the stereo at home. And the DJ said, "That was the new one from Seal, well worth waiting for." And I had this feeling. I've had it before, it's only momentary, it never lasts and I get it sometimes on stage and I've also got it when I've been on a snowboard...almost unquantifiable...just this rush.”

On his songs:
“My songs are like kids. I love them all. I encourage them to grow, to reach their full potential, and then send them out into the world.”

On his scars:
“I got really depressed about [the scars] at first, as you can understand. Now I really like them. If I could design something, I don’t think I could do it better. True beauty is internal and eternal — it doesn’t matter what’s only skin deep.”