Seal
Seal in 2016, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: Olusegun A. Adeola Samuel
Place of Birth: Paddington, London, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 19 February, 1963
Ethnicity: Nigerian
Seal is a British singer and songwriter.
Seal is the son of Francis Ademola Samuel, and of a mother surnamed Ogundeji. His parents were Nigerian. Seal has four children with his former wife, German model, businessperson, and reality television personality Heidi Klum. His brother is singer and songwriter Jeymes Samuel.
Some web sites state that either Seal’s mother or Seal’s father is Brazilian. Seal has referred to his grandparents being “half Brazilian.” It is not clear what this means.
I found a definitive source for his parents’ background:
https://youtu.be/2dD00ligxxY?t=20
The last paragraph could be rewritten as:
It’s often said that Seal’s father is “Afro-Brazilian”. This is not accurate. Here (link the clip), Seal says that his parents are from Nigeria.
Wait a minute… in the clip you linked now, the full interview, he actually says he is part Brazilian. Just a couple of seconds after he says his parents are from Nigeria.
These links seem to say it’s his father that is Afro-Brazilian, which would kind of make sense given the surname is not African.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/sep/16/seal-interview-pop
http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2003/09/07/seal_chooses_idealism_optimism_on_new_cd/
His geni profile also shows that he was adopted:
https://www.geni.com/people/Seal/6000000009647853252
Also, his mother’s surname is Yoruba in origin.
He can’t be African because his last name is Samuel? I guess Goodluck Jonathan can’t also be African, because Jonathan isn’t a Nigerian name.
I didn’t say that his surname didn’t mean he couldn’t be African, just that it would make more sense if his father was from somewhere else.
And in any case, I provided additional sourcing that has to be worked through. Are all the media sources and the geni incorrect? I’m genuinely curious, as he’s almost always said to have a Brazilian father. All that is currently said on the page is that Brazilian ancestry “does not appear to be accurate” but gives not citations for that, nor does the page go into the background of his parents. That seems to say that the page is nor more or no less researched than the sources I provided, is all.
“When he was 15, Seal ran away from home; when he went back later in his teens, it was to transport his father’s ashes to Nigeria.”
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/05/garden/at-lunch-with-seal-from-a-crucible-of-early-pain-comes-the-gold-of-stardom.html
I don’t know where this Brazilian thing originates, but it’s really mentioned everywhere. Not sure if there’s any truth to it, but the only source I found that went into more detail than just namedropping his parents’ names and countries, is the one above that seems to suggest his father was Nigerian.
If we’re gonna go by his father’s name, as you mentioned above, it’s also way more likely he’s Nigerian. A Brazilian named Francis Samuel would be really rare.
WHO IS GIVING THIS FALSE INFORMATION OR IS HE THE ONE CLAIMING IT? SEAL IS A FULL BLOWN NIGERIAN, WE ALL KNOW AND WE CAN TAKE ANYONE WHO DENIES THIS FACT BACK TO HIS NATIVE HOME IN NIGERIA AND MEET HIS MOTHER AND FATHER. BRAZIL? WELL I HE WAS ALITTLE BIT LIGHTER YOU WOULD HAVE CLAIMED HE’S PARTLY WHITE. PLEASE PLEASE STOP TRYING TO ERRACE THE BLACK HERRITAGE AND TRY TO FIX EVERY SINGLE CELEBRITY TO HAVING MIXED BLOOD. THIS MAN “NAWAO” IS NOT MIXED WITH ANY OTHER RACE. TAKE A PLAIN TO LAGOS NAIJA AND YOUL’L BE DIRECTED TO HIS MOTHER’S HOUSE.
Just like what someone posted on Jordana Brewster- Being called Brazilian is like being called american , you can be a million different things
HE IS 100 AFRICAN. DONNO WHERE THIS BRAZIL BACK GROUND IS COMING FROM.
You people are idiots, there’s no such thing as “Brazilian ethnicity”, go get informed you pricks!
ps: I’m a fucking Brazilian, I think I know what I’m talking about here!
You said something right with wrong words. Ethnicity is a cultural group, it’s nothing to do with race. Then Brazilians represent an ethnicity. If you don’t know anything about it, so be quiet or get humble!
If Brazilian is an ethnicity American is an ethnicity too? then why Americans have to divide themselves in ethnicities in the census if all have the samr ethnicity.Why in this page Americana are not simply Americana and not English,German,Afro-American.