Samuel Martins Alves (born June 3, 1989) is a Brazilian singer. In December 2013, Alves won thesecond season ofThe Voice Brasil and signed withUniversal Music Brasil. Alves has also appeared onthe U.S. version ofThe Voice, where he participated in the blind auditions forthe fourth season but was not selected by any of the judges.

As an infant, Sam was abandoned in a shoebox at the door of a house inFortaleza, Ceará. With him, a note written with some writing errors said that he was born on June 3, 1989, and given porridge at 3:00 on June 5, the same day Luiz and Raquel Alves found him. Soon after Alves' fourth birthday, his family decided to move to the United States, and Alves grew up and was educated inMassachusetts. Luiz was a pastor and newspaper deliveryman, while Raquel cleaned houses for a living.^[1]

When Alves was 14, his mother, Raquel, started training him to sing in church, and in 2003, the two returned to Brazil for amissionary job. Alves studied at the School of Music of Brasilia, and during this period, he recorded an independent gospel album with his sister Samara. In 2007, Alves and his mother returned to the United States, where Luiz had remained. After Luiz and Raquel divorced, Alves stayed with his mother, and began working to help support her financially. Alves also attended college after returning to the United States, seeking a Pre-Med bachelor's degree. At college, he joined the "Worcester State University Chorale" and took voice lessons with one of the school's vocal coaches. This experience convinced Alves to pursue music professionally.^[1]

In April 2013, Alves participated in the blind auditions of the fourth season ofThe Voice (U.S.), where he sang "Feeling Good". The show's judges—Adam Levine,Blake Shelton,Usher andShakira—appeared to react positively to the performance, but none of them selected Alves to join their teams. Shakira, visibly regretful, told her colleagues she was going to speak in Portuguese: "Eu adorei você. Acho que você é um cantor realmente bom" which means: "I loved you, I think you are a really good singer"."^[2]

In October 2013, Alves participated in the blind auditions ofThe Voice Brasil (Brazil), singingBruno Mars' "When I Was Your Man". All four judges turned their chairs, indicating their interest in working with him.Lulu Santos praised the performance:

For me, it was very interesting to see his delivery to his art. You were not doing it for the audience or the camera, you were doing it for you.

Alves choseCláudia Leitte as his mentor.^[3] The song he performed for his audition was made available for digital download on theiTunes Store and charted at number one, ahead of the originalBruno Mars version.^[4] In the second phase of the show, Sam battled Marcela Bueno by singing the song "A Thousand Years" and won. The performance of the two was praised by the songwriter and original interpreter of the song,Christina Perri: "Congrats to both of you. that was my favorite cover so far of A THOUSAND YEARS! absolutamente linda!!!" she said.^[5] In thetira-teima phase, Alves decided to sing in Portuguese. He performed the song "Pais e Filhos" of the bandLegião Urbana. He was saved by the public, along with Júlia Tazzi, and soon after picked by coach Claudia to continue in her team.^[6] In his first performance of the LIVE rounds he sang "Mirrors" and was saved by the Brazilian population, with 59% of the votes.^[7][8]In the semi-final, Alves sang "Você Existe Em Mim", a song originally performed by Leitte. Alves received 20 points from his coach and 84% of the votes of the public, thus qualifying for the finale of the show.^[9][10]

The finale began with the four finalists singing "Não Quero Dinheiro (Só Quero Amar)" fromTim Maia. In his solo performance, Alves sang "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen). He next performed a duet with Leitte, in which they sang "A Camisa e o Botão". At the end of the program, Alves was announced the winner of the season, with 43% of the popular votes among the more than 29 million votes.^[11][12][13]

• "Pon El Alma En El Juego" – Hit of the Copa América de Chile 2015
• "Intenção" – Duda Ft. Sam Alves (2015)
• "Fôlego" – Dalto Max Ft. Sam Alves (2018)
• "Aquele Amor" – Sam Alves & Freqncy (2019)

• 2014:Sam Alves Tour
• 2015:ID Tour

• Sam Alves atIMDb
• Sam Alves onInstagram

• 1989 births
• Living people
• People from Fortaleza
• 21st-century Brazilian male singers
• 21st-century Brazilian singers
• English-language singers from Brazil
• Brazilian pop singers
• Brazilian composers
• Brazilian expatriates in the United States
• The Voice (franchise) winners

• CS1 Portuguese-language sources (pt)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2019
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts