Sam Smith

Sam Smith's first hits came as a guest. In 2012 the electronic duo Disclosure released "Latch," with Smith singing the hook, and early the next year Naughty Boy's "La La La," again featuring Smith, went to No. 1 in Britain. Listeners heard a soaring, aching voice before most of them knew whose it was. When their own debut album, In the Lonely Hour, arrived in 2014, that voice became one of the most recognizable in pop.

Sam Smith was born on May 19, 1992, in London, and grew up in Great Chishill, a village in Cambridgeshire. Sources disagree about the exact birth time, so the rising sign and houses are uncertain, but the planets tell a clear story. The Sun sits in the closing degrees of Taurus, with Mercury and Venus also in Taurus. Taurus is a sign of sensual pleasure, patience and emotional steadiness, ruled by Venus, the planet of love and beauty. Astrologers have long associated Taurus with singers, and with Venus also in the sign, love is the natural subject. Nearly every Sam Smith hit is a love song, usually about wanting someone who does not want you back.

"Stay with Me," the album's biggest single, was a plea to a one-night stand not to leave, sung with gospel-style backing. At the 2015 Grammys, Smith won four awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Later that year they recorded "Writing's on the Wall" for the James Bond film Spectre; it became the first Bond theme to reach No. 1 in the UK, and it went on to win the Oscar for original song.

Mars in Aries adds a direct, combative streak beneath the Taurus calm. Aries is the sign of the pioneer, of being first and saying so, and Smith has repeatedly put their identity on the line in public. They came out as gay early in their career, and in 2019 they announced that they are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, which drew both support and a great deal of mockery.

Saturn in Aquarius describes a serious, long-term commitment to individuality and to the group one belongs to. Aquarius belongs to outsiders and to communities alike, and Smith has spoken often about growing up feeling different and about finding a place in the LGBTQ community.

The later music grew bolder. Love Goes, released in 2020, moved toward dance-pop, and in 2022 "Unholy," a dark, theatrical collaboration with the German singer Kim Petras, became Smith's first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song won a Grammy for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and Petras became the first transgender woman to win in that category. The 2023 album Gloria was framed as a statement of liberation, built on choral textures and queer joy.

Jupiter in Virgo rewards careful, detailed work, and Smith's vocal control, especially the effortless leaps into falsetto, comes from years of training that began in childhood. The Taurus Sun gave them the voice and the love songs; the Aries Mars made sure they would be sung on their own terms.