Sam Endicott Biography

Samuel Bingham "Sam" Endicott (born August 13, 1974) is an American songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor and director. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the The Bravery, with whom he recorded three studio albums. He is currently the lead singer of Mercy Beat.

Early life

Background and education

Endicott grew up in Brookmont, Maryland. He is an only child of William Endicott, a former director in the White House Office of Political Affairs, and Abigail Bingham Endicott, a vocalist and teacher. He is a Mayflower descendant through his father, and great-great grandson of Charles L. Tiffany (founder of Tiffany & Co.) through his maternal grandfather, Hiram Bingham IV.

Endicott attended Georgetown Day School before transferring to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1992. In 1999, he graduated from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York with B.A. in Psychology.

Early musical influences

At age 11 Endicott began playing guitar and at 12 switched to bass guitar, for which he showed prodigious talent; by age 13 he was an established bass player in the Washington, D.C. area, playing in numerous punk and harDCore bands, most notably Stain, with Geoff Turner of Gray Matter and Colin Sears of Dag Nasty. He has stated that his biggest influence as a bass player is Joe Lally of Fugazi, and he initially sought to emulate Lally's melodic style of playing. He was classmates with future Bravery keyboardist John Conway. The two began a musical partnership, playing together in various projects in the Poughkeepsie area.

Career

After graduating Endicott and Conway moved to New York City where their musical partnership continued. In 2003 he switched from bass guitar to vocals and began writing, recording and producing the music that would become the first Bravery album. Guitarist Michael Zakarin joined after answering an advert in a local paper, and brought with him bassist Mike Hindert, a classmate of his from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Drummer Anthony Burulcich was living in Boston where he had studied percussion at Berklee College of Music. After the death of his sister, Burulcich moved back to his childhood home in Long Island New York to be with his family. On the day Burulcich was moving, while driving with his belongings in a Uhaul truck, Endicott called him. The Bravery went on to release their debut album in March 2005.

Endicott is a multi-instrumentalist playing guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards and programs electronic drums and synthesizers. Endicott has also co-directed and written a number of the Bravery's music videos, making his music video directing debut with the video for the Bravery's "Believe" in 2008. He is also credited as producer on the Bravery's debut album, as well as the "Moon" portion of their The Sun and the Moon Complete, described as an "alternate take" on their second release The Sun and the Moon. Endicott co-produced the Bravery's third studio album Stir The Blood.

While recording the Stir the Blood album, Endicott and producer John Hill co-wrote three songs with Shakira for her album She Wolf, including the single She Wolf and critically acclaimed song "Men In This Town". She Wolf and its Spanish version counterpart "Loba," had major commercial success selling more than 2 millions copies world wide.

Endicott, alongside Switch, Santigold, and John HIll also co-wrote the Christina Aguilera song "Monday Morning" for Aguilera's album Bionic.

Endicott also appears as an actor in the independent film Modern Romance, and made a cameo appearance as the character Nikolai in Tyler Oliver's (director of the "Unconditional" music video) movie, Forget Me Not.

Endicott was featured on the February, 2005 cover of L'oumo Vogue.

Endicott was a feature model for the 2008 European Gap Campaign.

Endicott formed a new band with friends called Mercy Beat. The band has so far released two tracks named "Sweet" and "An Act of Mercy".

Personal life

According to a November 2009 interview from the Spinner website, Endicott reported that he has synesthesia. In 2011, he relocated to Los Angeles, California.