Sam’s single excites fans
The thing that troubles Sam Verlinden’s mother most about his singing career is the behaviour of the opposite sex.
‘‘I do worry a bit about him getting mauled by girls. They’re crazy,’’ she says.
Sam is a 15-year-old St Peter’s College student who has been signed to DNK World Music. His first single, I Want Ya, is getting airtime on Mai FM, Flava, Juice TV and C4.
The teen appeared in the Central Leader in 2011 when he was invited to perform at Parachute music festival.
He’s focusing on building up his fan base and is working on his EP, to be released later this year. He’s also hoping to do another schools tour in the coming months.
It was a performance at Auckland Girls Grammar last year that made his mother Bronwyn realise how popular Sam is with teenage girls.
‘‘They just went bananas, you couldn’t hear yourself think.’’
Once he finishes school Sam says he’d like to put all his energy into music, although he does well in English and studying journalism holds some appeal.
But right now his mother says nothing is more important to him than his rugby team, which practises twice a week at 6.50am.
‘‘If it’s a choice between a music event and rugby, the rugby wins every time.’’
Sam seems to have no trouble juggling homework, rugby and time spent in the recording studio.
‘‘He manages to
fit
it all in and I don’t have to nag him,’’ his mother says.
While the first single is very much a pop song, the young vocalist enjoys R&B and soul music and looks forward to being able to show his fans what he can do in other genres.