George Ezra

George Ezra Barnett (born 7 June 1993) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.

George Ezra Barnett was born on 7 June 1993 in Hertford, Hertfordshire.

His parents were teachers, with his father, Paul, teaching at Barnwell School in Stevenage.

Barnett attended primary school in Bengeo and then Simon Balle School.

He studied at Hertford Regional College.

He moved to Bristol in 2011 to study songwriting at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute.

Ezra has an elder sister named Jessica who accompanies him on tour, and a younger brother named Ethan who is also a singer-songwriter, under the stage name Ten Tonnes.

After releasing two EPs, Did You Hear the Rain? (2013) and Cassy O' (2014), Ezra rose to prominence with the release of his hit single "Budapest", which reached number one in several countries.

In June 2013, Ezra played the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury Festival.

He released his debut EP Did You Hear the Rain? in October 2013.

In late 2013, he received airplay on BBC Radio 1, with songs "Did You Hear the Rain?" and "Budapest" regularly featured.

His debut studio album, Wanted on Voyage, was released in June 2014, reaching number one in the UK and the top ten in seven other countries.

It was also the third-best-selling album of 2014 in the UK.

He was included in MTV's Brand New for 2014, Vevo's 'DSCVR Ones to Watch 2014' and iTunes' new artists 2014.

Ezra was longlisted for the BBC Sound of... 2014, where he eventually finished in fifth place.

"Budapest" reached number six in Italy and was certified platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.

He has played support spots for Lianne La Havas, Bastille, Sam Smith and Tom Odell.

In March 2014 he released his second EP, Cassy O' .

"Budapest" was released in the UK on 13 June, followed by his debut album, Wanted on Voyage, on 30 June.

On 6 July, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number three.

The album has also charted in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

On 5 October, 14 weeks after its initial release, Wanted on Voyage went to number one in the UK.

In December 2014 the album had sold 678,156 copies in the UK.

On 10 August 2014, Ezra was a support act for Robert Plant at the Glastonbury Extravaganza.

In October 2014, Ezra released a video for "Listen to the Man", which featured Ian McKellen.

In January 2015 it was named the third best-selling album of 2014 in the UK after x by Ed Sheeran and In the Lonely Hour by Sam Smith.

On 4 January 2015, the album reclaimed the number one spot in the UK.

At the 2015 Brit Awards, Ezra was nominated for four Brit Awards: Best British Album, Best British Male Solo Artist, Best British Single, and British Breakthrough Artist.

In early 2015, Ezra opened for Sam Smith for 16 dates on Smith's In the Lonely Hour Tour across North America.

Later, he toured with Irish musician Hozier for select dates on his sold-out 2015 North American tour.

Before Ezra's rise to fame, he created a word, "petan" (pronounced: "pay-tan"), to help him to bond with his fans, encouraging them to use it during everyday life.

It is commonly used on Twitter and on tour; he has started selling merchandise with the word printed on it.

In an interview in Boston in March 2015, he admitted that this "petan" word-creation is a blank nonsense: "It's a word I made up, me and my friends. It could be good or bad or anything, it was just a word that… we were 18, we were idiots – but it's kind of lived on."

On 28 March 2015, Ezra was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

He appeared on U.S. television again a few weeks later, performing "Budapest" on The Late Late Show with James Corden on 13 April.

Ezra's second studio album, Staying at Tamara's, was released in March 2018 and reached number one in the UK and the top ten in eight other countries.

The second single from the album, "Paradise", reached number two in the UK, while the next single, "Shotgun", reached number one, becoming Ezra's first chart-topping single in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

In February 2019, he won the Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist.

Ezra released his third studio album, Gold Rush Kid, in June 2022.

It became his third consecutive UK no. 1 album.