Feature Photo: Harald Krichel, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Lewis Capaldi turned heartbreak, gallows humor, and a huge voice into a global story that began in pubs across Scotland and ended on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. He grew up in Glasgow and West Lothian, started playing guitar at nine, and was already sneaking into pubs to play by his early teens, helped by his older brother. In 2014, he took part in the Hit the Road project run by the Scottish Music Centre, playing small Scottish dates that helped him learn how to work a room. His life changed when manager Ryan Walter heard an iPhone recording Capaldi had uploaded to SoundCloud, flew over to see him play live, and signed him while Capaldi was still studying for an HND in Music at New College Lanarkshire.
The foundation of his recording career sits in those early independent releases. In March 2017, he put out his first single, “Bruises,” which racked up tens of millions of Spotify streams and made him the fastest unsigned artist on the platform to reach 25 million plays. “Bruises,” along with “Lost on You” and “Fade,” anchored his first EP, Bloom, and drew the attention of Universal Music Group, which signed him to Vertigo Berlin, with Virgin EMI handling the United Kingdom and Capitol handling the United States. During 2017 and 2018, he opened for Rag’n’Bone Man, Jake Bugg, Milky Chance, Niall Horan, and Sam Smith, while also hitting major festivals such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Firefly, Mountain Jam, Osheaga, Reading and Leeds, and TRNSMT. Those constant support slots and festival appearances put his name in front of hundreds of thousands of fans before his first album even existed.
The turning point came with the song that now defines the first chapter of his career. “Someone You Loved,” originally on the Breach EP, became a global phenomenon, charting in twenty nine countries. In 2019, it spent seven weeks at number one on the United Kingdom Singles Chart. It later reached number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100, making Capaldi the first Scottish solo artist to top the American chart since 1981. The track was nominated for Song of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards and won the Brit Award for Song of the Year in 2020. It was the best-selling single in the United Kingdom in 2019, and in 2020, it was announced as the longest-running top-ten single by a British artist. During the same period, he also scored big with “Grace” and “Hold Me While You Wait,” which helped set up his debut album.
His first full-length album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent, arrived in May 2019 and dominated the charts. The record spent six weeks at number one on the United Kingdom Albums Chart and became the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in both 2019 and 2020. Capaldi was nominated for the Brit Critics’ Choice Award and then returned to the Brit Awards in 2020 to win Best New Artist along with the Song of the Year prize for “Someone You Loved.” He sold out an arena tour before the album was even released, with tickets for March 2020 dates disappearing in seconds, and more than a quarter of a million people eventually attending that run. He also contributed original material to other projects, including “Days Gone Quiet” for the video game Days Gone, which received nominations from the Game Audio Network Guild Awards and the NAVGTR Awards, and he co-wrote songs such as Rita Ora’s “How to Be Lonely” and Sigala’s “Lasting Lover.”
Capaldi moved into the second phase of his recording career with Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent. He paused touring in 2021 to focus on the album, then reappeared in 2022 with shows at TRNSMT, Latitude, and the Isle of Wight Festival. The lead single, “Forget Me,” arrived in September 2022 and became his first United Kingdom number one on its debut week. The album, released in 2023, continued his run of hit singles with “Pointless” and “Wish You the Best,” both of which topped the United Kingdom Singles Chart. During this period, he also launched a frozen pizza line, Big Sexy Pizza, sold through Iceland and Tesco in the United Kingdom, showing how far his personality and brand had spread beyond streaming playlists and radio.
His touring schedule and public profile brought a different kind of attention in 2023. At that year’s Glastonbury Festival, his set was affected by vocal issues and visible tics related to Tourette’s syndrome, which he had publicly disclosed in 2022. When he struggled to finish songs, the crowd took over the vocals in a now widely shared moment that underlined his connection to his audience but also highlighted the toll that constant performance was taking. Shortly afterward, he announced an extended and indefinite break from touring to focus on his mental and physical health. On January 1, 2024, he released an extended edition of Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent as a surprise for fans while he remained off the road.
By 2025, Capaldi began to re-emerge. He officially released his cover of Britney Spears’ “Everytime” in April, which entered the United Kingdom Singles Downloads Chart. In June 2025, he returned to Glastonbury for a surprise set, his first live performance since extending his hiatus. That same day, he issued the single “Survive,” which debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and later became the title track of his Survive EP. Follow-up singles “Something in the Heavens” and “Almost” also charted strongly, with “Something in the Heavens” reaching the top three in the United Kingdom, confirming that his audience had stayed with him through his time away from touring.
Away from the charts, he has built a parallel story around openness and advocacy. He launched the LiveLive initiative to provide mental health support and a safer environment for fans attending his shows, offering resources for concertgoers who struggle with anxiety or related issues. He also allowed cameras into his life for the Netflix documentary How I’m Feeling Now, released in 2023, which dealt directly with fame, panic attacks, and the pressure of following up a massively successful debut album. On a more personal note, he has maintained strong ties to Scotland, publicly supporting Celtic F.C., working, writing, and recording at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, and even involving his relative Peter Capaldi in the video for “Someone You Loved.”
Complete List Of Lewis Capaldi Songs From A to Z
1. A Cure for Minds Unwell – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
2. Almost – Survive – 2025
3. Ancient Art of Always Fucking Up, The – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
4. Any Kind of Life – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
5. Before You Go – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
6. Bruises – Bloom – 20 October 2017
7. Bruises – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
8. Bruises (guitar acoustic) – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
9. Bruises (live orchestral version) – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
10. Burning – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
11. Burning (orchestral version) – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
12. Day That I Die, The – Survive – 2025
13. Don’t Get Me Wrong – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
14. Fade – Bloom – 20 October 2017
15. Fade – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
16. Forget Me – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
17. Forever – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
18. Grace – Breach – 8 November 2018
19. Grace – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
20. Headspace – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
21. Haven’t You Ever Been in Love Before? – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
22. Heavenly Kind of State of Mind – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
23. Hold Me While You Wait – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
24. Hollywood – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
25. How I’m Feeling Now – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
26. How I’m Feeling Now (orchestral version) – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
27. How This Ends – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
28. Leaving My Love Behind – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
29. Leave Me Slowly – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
30. Let It Roll – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
31. Lost on You – Bloom – 20 October 2017
32. Lost on You – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
33. Love the Hell Out of You – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
34. Maybe – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
35. Mercy – Bloom – 20 October 2017
36. Old Navy Blue – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
37. One – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
38. Pointless – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
39. Pointless (unplugged) – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
40. Pretender, The – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
41. Someone I Could Die For – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
42. Someone You Loved – Breach – 8 November 2018
43. Someone You Loved – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
44. Someone You Loved (live from Capitol Studio / 1 Mic 1 Take) – Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent – 2019
45. Something Borrowed (Demo) – Breach – 8 November 2018
46. Something in the Heavens – Survive – 2025
47. Strangers – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
48. Survive – Survive – 2025
49. Tough – Breach – 8 November 2018
50. Wish You the Best – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
51. Wish You the Best (acoustic) – Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent – 2023
Albums
Bloom (2017): 4 songs
Breach 2018): 4 songs
Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent (2019): 18 songs
Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent (2023): 21 songs
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Brian Kachejian was born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx. He is the founder and Editor in Chief of ClassicRockHistory.com. He has spent thirty years in the music business often working with many of the people who have appeared on this site. Brian Kachejian also holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Stony Brook University along with New York State Public School Education Certifications in Music and Social Studies. Brian Kachejian is also an active member of the New York Press.