he exploded onto the music charts with a mega hit that made all the girls scream before he was even
a teenager since he was just a child he trusted the adults around him that seemed to have his best
interests at heart later he would find out that wasn't the case and it would take him years to put
all the broken pieces of his life back together american r b singer songwriter sammy lee bush jr
was born in boynton beach florida he began singing in church with his family when he was just four
years old and was reared listening to the likes of stevie wonder marvin gaye michael jackson and
usher sammy was a self-proclaimed shy kid but had no trouble singing in front of crowds of people
at the age of eight he knew that he wanted to pursue music professionally
so he began entering into local talent shows sammy soon found himself as part of an all-male group
known as the wonder three they got the bright idea to audition for the apollo theater in new
york city sammy would end up securing a spot as a solo artist his group members gave him
their blessing to go for it and he did making it all the way to the finals by wowing the crowd
with his rendition of stevie wonder's my shari yamar during one of sammy's performances on the
apollo stage he caught the attention of a major player in the industry it was joyous irby better
known as the bassist and lead vocalist of the 80s all-girl band climax she loved what she
heard and introduced him to atlanta producer and songwriter dallas austin dallas signed sami to his
now defunct free world entertainment label under capitol records in november 1999 at the age of 12
sammy captured everyone's attention with his first song and first hit i like it it went
gold rising to number 24 on the billboard hot 100 and number eight on the r b hip hop songs chart
his debut album from the bottom to the top dropped the following year after his second single crazy
things i do as well as the track hardball with lil bow wow lil zane and lil wayne from the 2001 film
of the same name were also released sammy along with his mother decided it was time to get back
to a more normal pace of life well that was only part of the reason why sammy went off the radar
the other reason was that tensions were at an all-time high between dallas joyce and sammy's
mother and something had to give he graduated in 2005 from west orange high school in orlando
where he joined the choir played basketball and was named homecoming king sammy was now an adult
and was able to make the adult decision to return to music but in order to do that he'd have to defy
his mother since he'd already made his mark in the music business she insisted that he play it safe
and pursue college sammy however had other plans he left his mother's home with 400 of graduation
money in his pocket and moved to atlanta with his manager he reconnected with dallas and signed
to his reactivated rowdy records label sammy entered the studio with him as well as jazzy fay
brian michael cox and duron jones from 112 to work on his next project sammy's self-titled second
album was released in 2006. two singles debuted you should be my girl featuring youngbloods member
sean p and come with me neither crack the hot 100. sammy finally got some shine again in 2008
courtesy of a feature on soulja boys hit single kiss me through the phone
which peaked at number three then everything imploded when sammy realized that his manager
whom he'd known since the very beginning of his career had completely ripped him off
he spoke candidly to essence about the experience in 2019 you know you just hear those stories
where one day they take everything that legit happened he had access to my personal account
my credit card co-signed on my benz there was a day when i had nothing in my account his manager
plainly told him that if sammy agreed to work with him again he'd get everything back sammy refused
the betrayal stung extra deeply since sammy looked up to him as a big brother when sammy left florida
for atlanta his manager put him up co-signed on his car and served as the primary account holder
on his american express card so sammy wouldn't get out of control with his spending
at one point sammy even had to send out a press release to address the fact that his now former
manager was still booking shows and accepting money on sami's behalf even though their business
dealings were over he also revealed to essence that he experienced some dark days while dealing
with the financial strain he found himself in he pushed through doing concerts and making
late night tv appearances just to pay his mortgage as well as take care of his parents and siblings
a light at the end of the tunnel came when interscope showed interest in signing him
sadly the deal fell through after they got wind of the ongoing drama he had
with his ex-manager sammy's true bounce back came after he confided in his mentor
whom he met at church his mentor took a very spiritual approach to getting him back on track
he encouraged sami to tithe so sammy did just that but he hesitated when his mentor told him
to put in the whole 100 bill instead of the 20 he was originally going to give
he did it and the very next day he secured two separate bookings for eight thousand dollars
apiece he knew from that day on he would never go without again because he jumped out on faith
sammy's inner businessman also ignited as a result of everything he was going through and he decided
to form his own management and production label over the next several years much of sammy's time
was spent creating a variety of eps and mixtapes one mixtape in particular titled insomnia
became an underground hit for the last couple of years sammy admits that he was low-key mad at god
because of all the issues he was dealing with he was partying a lot and not sleeping at all
he poured himself into the project as a way to stay sane he was also penning hits for other
artists at the time namely tank with whom he developed a close relationship the following
year sammy wanted to keep the momentum going and garner more attention in anticipation of the new
ep he was about to drop so he decided to do a name change he began going by his middle name
lee and dropped the lee bush project in 2016 sammy released two musical works a mixtape titled indigo
as well as an ep called i'm him later in the year the inspiration for the ep actually came from
one of his instagram posts that a very popular entertainment news account reposted and went viral
in june the shade room posted a video of sammy singing his soulful heart out with the title
track and made everyone sit up and take notice his dms blew all the way up from inquiring minds
wanting to know if it was really him to all kinds of questions about what he was up to
from the reaction it was clear that he had been missed from the spotlight his third album coming
of age was released in september 2017. the project is an introspective work about relationships
sammy even delves into the sensitive topic of infidelity which he admits he's been a perpetrator
of in a 2017 interview with vibe sammy touched on his relationship with his father and how if it had
been better he maybe could have avoided certain shortcomings with women it's not the relationship
i would want things that i've done to women wouldn't have happened if my dad probably would
have been there and said there's something called generational curses let me help you through that
or let me pray over you i never had that that summer sammy ruffled some feathers on social media
when he made a since-deleted post on instagram speaking about the quote trend of single
motherhood and telling men and women to quote take accountability when it comes to having children
the post drew heavy criticism and he quickly clarified his sentiments the same day
in an also now deleted video response women that are raising children on their own or a child on
their own i know more than likely didn't go into that situation thinking you'll be by yourself
so when i say take accountability let me say be preventative there's condoms birth control
there's plan b there's the spirit of discernment there's intuition there's research you can do on
the man you're sleeping with is he a good son is he a good uncle is he a good brother
is he family oriented fellas step up to the plate it goes both ways
sami's fourth album everlasting was released in march 2019 he shared with the atlanta black star
he initially recorded the album to heal himself after a terrible breakup and explained that he
sought therapy after completing the project in the hopes of overcoming some of the things that
happened in the relationship he claims was with the only girl he ever was in love with 2020 was
a very busy year for sammy he released his fifth studio album such as live launched his candle line
made some more headway on a book he's writing on men and relationships and filmed a tv pilot in
la he was also officially added to the millennium tour 2020 joining headliner omarion among others
after being vocal about his disappointment of not being included the year prior due to the worldwide
pandemic the tour's 2020 dates were rescheduled for the following year in february 2022
sammy dropped another ep titled satin sheets that he says is by far the most sensual sexually vulgar
project in its totality that he's ever created fans can get an up close and personal experience
of it live as he's currently on the vibes on vibes tour co-headlining with grammy-nominated
r b singer eric bellinger thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget
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