Biografia
Seal was born to a Nigerian mother and a Brazilian-born father who were still students at the time, struggling to make ends meet with various odd jobs. Soon after his birth, he was placed with a foster family, where he lived in protected conditions until he was four. In 1967, his mother Adebisi regained custody of him. Having established a stable life as a wig maker and divorced from Seal's father, she raised Seal along with his five siblings in London for two years before leaving him with his father in 1969. His time with his father was marked by domestic violence and abuse.
Alongside his father's brutality, Seal faced severe bullying at school due to lupus erythematosus, a skin disease he suffered from as a child that left significant scars on his face. At 15, he ran away from home and dropped out of school. From then on, he supported himself through various odd jobs while nurturing his passion for music, performing in pubs and bars. In the mid-1980s, Seal joined the British funk band Push and toured in Japan and Thailand, where he briefly played in a blues band. Captivated by Asia, he traveled to India for an exploratory trip. Returning to London in 1990, he met producer Adamski and recorded "Killer," which soared to number one on the British charts.
In 1991, Seal released his debut album, "Seal," produced by Trevor Horn, known for his work with Grace Jones. The single "Crazy" achieved notable success. His second album, also titled "Seal," came out in 1994. He achieved global fame with "Kiss From A Rose," the theme song for the movie "Batman Forever," which went multi-platinum, topped the US charts, and remained there for 45 weeks. The song earned him three Grammy nominations. His contribution to the 1996 film "Space Jam" soundtrack with the song "Fly Like An Eagle" also garnered attention. In 1998, Seal released his third album, "Human Nature," which did not match the success of his earlier work. The following years saw a quieter phase in his career.
Residing in Los Angeles, Seal mostly avoided the spotlight until media interest surged after news of his relationship with German supermodel Heidi Klum emerged. He relocated to London to live with her and recorded "Seal IV" in 2003, once again working with Trevor Horn, who produced all his albums. The album was a huge success, with the single "Love's Divine" becoming a global hit, ranking in the top ten worldwide. At the end of 2004, a greatest hits compilation titled "Best 1991 - 2004" was released. Seal and Klum married on May 10, 2005, living between London and New York. They welcomed two sons in 2005 and 2006, and a daughter in 2009. Seal also adopted Klum's daughter from a previous relationship.
In early 2007, Seal contributed the song "A Father's Way" to the film "The Pursuit of Happiness." That February, he lost a legal battle with his former manager in a London appeal court and was ordered to pay John Wadlow $922,000 in commissions from his first two albums' earnings. At the end of 2009, Klum adopted Seal's surname, Samuel. In October 2011, Seal faced criticism after attending a private event for Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov's birthday, amid allegations of serious human rights violations against Kadyrov. On January 22, 2012, Seal and Klum announced their separation.
