Sam Tsui

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title: "Sam Tsui" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1989-births", "20th-century-american-lgbtq-people", "21st-century-american-lgbtq-people", "21st-century-american-male-singers", "21st-century-american-singers", "american-gay-actors", "american-gay-musicians", "american-gay-writers", "american-lgbtq-people-of-asian-descent", "american-lgbtq-singers", "american-lgbtq-songwriters", "american-male-pianists", "american-male-pop-singers", "american-musicians-of-chinese-descent", "american-people-of-chinese-descent", "american-people-of-hong-kong-descent", "american-pianists", "american-soul-singers", "american-tenors", "american-video-jockeys", "gay-singers", "gay-songwriters", "lgbtq-people-from-pennsylvania", "lgbtq-youtubers", "living-people", "musicians-from-montgomery-county,-pennsylvania", "singers-from-pennsylvania", "yale-university-alumni", "youtubers-from-pennsylvania"] description: "American musician and YouTuber (born 1989)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Tsui" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American musician and YouTuber (born 1989) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Sam Tsui
image	Samuel Tsui at YouTube FanFest Indonesia 2015.jpg
caption	Samuel Tsui at YouTube FanFest Indonesia 2015
birth_name	Samuel Tsui
birth_date
birth_place	Blue Bell, Pennsylvania
education	Yale University (BA)
occupation	Singer-songwriter, producer
spouse
children	Elaia Tsui-Breves
module	{{Infobox musical artist
embed	yes
origin	Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, U.S.
genre	{{flat list
instrument	{{flat list
years_active	2008–present
label	{{flat list
associated_acts	{{flat list
website
::

| name = Sam Tsui | image = Samuel Tsui at YouTube FanFest Indonesia 2015.jpg | caption = Samuel Tsui at YouTube FanFest Indonesia 2015 | birth_name = Samuel Tsui | birth_date = | birth_place = Blue Bell, Pennsylvania | education = Yale University (BA) | occupation = Singer-songwriter, producer | spouse = | children = Elaia Tsui-Breves | relatives = | awards = | module = {{Infobox musical artist | embed = yes | origin = Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, U.S. | genre = {{flat list|

• Pop
• soul
• acoustic
• synthpop | instrument = {{flat list|
• Vocals
• piano
• synthesizer
• glockenspiel | years_active = 2008–present | label = {{flat list|
• Mud Hut Digital
• NoodleHouse
• Sh-K-Boom | associated_acts = {{flat list|
• Kurt Schneider
• Christina Grimmie
• Elle Winter
• Alex Goot
• Vidya Vox
• Casey Breves | website = Samuel Tsui (born May 2, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter and video producer. He rose to fame as an internet celebrity known for doing covers and musical medleys of songs by pop artists. He has since released original songs and expanded to mashups.

Tsui frequently collaborates with YouTuber and childhood friend Kurt Hugo Schneider. Their one-man a cappella videos have been described by Time as a combination of Glee and Attack of the Clones.

As of June 2021, Tsui had received over 3.18 million subscribers.

Early life and education

Tsui was born on May 2, 1989. His father was from Hong Kong and of Cantonese descent, while his mother is an American from Iowa. He has one brother. He grew up in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, a street away from Kurt Schneider, his producer and accompanist, with whom he attended Wissahickon High School. Tsui attended weekend Chinese school as a child and can speak some Cantonese.

Tsui attended Yale University, where he was a member of Davenport College and The Duke's Men of Yale, an all-male acappella group. He graduated from Yale with a major in Classics (Greek) in 2011.

Career

2009–2010: Career beginnings

Tsui appeared on ABC World News on October 28, 2009, singing The Jackson 5's "I'll Be There". He went on to perform on The Bonnie Hunt Show in November of the same year, where he was interviewed and performed Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". He also appeared on It's On with Alexa Chung, singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for the cast of American television series Glee.

Kurt Schneider produced the musical web series College Musical, a parody of the High School Musical film series, in fall of 2008. Four episodes were released, with Tsui playing the lead role of Cooper. Following the popularity of the series, it was announced that a film would be made based on the series. College Musical: The Movie premiered online in September 2014.

In 2010, Tsui released his first cover album, The Covers. The album, released on February 9, 2010, features covers of hits from Michael Jackson, Journey, Beyoncé, Jason Mraz, and Lady Gaga among other artists. On February 22, 2010, Tsui appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with his producer Kurt Schneider. The two were interviewed, and Tsui performed his medley of Michael Jackson songs. In November 2010, Tsui collaborated with fellow YouTube singer Christina Grimmie, singing "Just a Dream", which is the most viewed video on the YouTube channel "KurtHugoSchneider", with more than 200 million views. On December 2, 2010, Tsui gave an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and performed a mashup of Katy Perry's "Firework" and Bruno Mars' "Grenade" with Schneider.

2011–2012: YouTube and rise in popularity

In 2011, Tsui debuted his own YouTube channel, apart from his collaboration with Kurt Schneider. On February 3, 2011, Tsui was featured on Britney Spears' official website, along with his cover of "Hold It Against Me".

In March 2011, lyrics from Tsui's song "Start Again" was featured in the novel Seeker by Andy Frankham-Allen.

Tsui was mentioned three times by Tom Hanks when he addressed the Yale class of 2011. Tsui was also featured in the 2010 Yale Admissions video. The video, entitled "That's Why I Chose Yale", reveals information about the college with students and admission officers breaking out into song across the campus. In 2017, he co-starred in a new admissions video entitled "That's Why I Toured Yale".

In fall 2011, Tsui was a digital correspondent for the third season of NBC's a capella competition show, The Sing-Off. He recorded a "Judges Medley" that included Sara Bareilles' "Love Song", Ben Folds' "Gone" and Shawn Stockman's (Boyz II Men) "On Bended Knee".

2013–present: Album, tours, future projects

Tsui released his first full-length original album, Make It Up, in May 2013 after a raising more than $64,000 through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter. The project was produced by Kurt Schneider.

In summer 2013, Tsui and Schneider toured across Canada and the US with Alex Goot, Against the Current, Landon Austin, Luke Conard, and King the Kid.

Tsui continues to make covers of popular music on his YouTube channel while also collaborating with other YouTubers. In September 2013, Sam published a duet with Elle Winter entitled "Unsinkable (Music Is Medicine)" online. The proceeds of the single went towards pediatric cancer research as a part of the Music Is Medicine's Donate a Song project.

Tsui's vocals were featured in a promotional video for Coca-Cola that premiered on January 14, 2014. In 2013, Kurt Hugo Schneider and Coca-Cola teamed up to create music videos featuring creative covers of two 2011 hits namely Calvin Harris' "Feel So Close" and Of Monsters and Men's "Little Talks" for a campaign called "The Sounds of AHH". The commercial edits of both premiered on the inaugural episode of season 13 of American Idol on January 14, 2014, on FOX with "Feel So Close" featuring the vocals of Tsui whereas Schneider makes music playing only Coca-Cola bottles, glasses and cans.

In 2016, Tsui starred in an episode of Bones as collegiate acappella singing group member Jake Eisenberg.

In 2021, on the tenth anniversary of his and Grimmie's release of their "Just a Dream" cover with Schneider, Sam and Kurt rerecorded their parts of the song while keeping Christina's original portion in memory of her murder in 2016. The song was noticeably sadder in tone and included a clip from an interview of Christina in the opening and a clip of her closing one of her old videos with a thank you at the end. The duo performed the reimagined version at a benefit concert for the Christina Grimmie Foundation on June 15, 2021.

Personal life

On April 15, 2016, Tsui posted a coming out video on his YouTube channel in which he announced that he is gay and in a long-term relationship with fellow musician and collaborator Casey Breves. They met while they were both at Yale (Tsui a freshman and Breves a junior) and were both part of an a cappella group on campus. The couple got married on April 16, 2016. They have adopted a daughter, named Elaia.

Awards and nominations

::data[format=table]

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2015	Dahsyatnya Awards	Outstanding Guest Star	Himself (shared with Kurt Hugo Schneider)
The Shorty Awards	Best YouTube Musician	Himself
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Web Star: Music	Himself
2020	The Shorty Awards	Best YouTube Musician	Himself
::

Discography

Main article: Sam Tsui discography

Filmography

Television

::data[format=table title=""]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Bones	Jake Eisenberg	Guest Cast (The Strike in the Chord; Season 11 Ep.16)
::

References

References

1. Tsui, Sam. (May 2, 2010). "Woooo! 21 Years old! Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes! :-)".
2. Yager, Sarah. (January 29, 2010). "Kurt Schneider re(de)fines formula for YouTube success". [[Yale University]].
3. Fletcher, Dan. (November 23, 2009). "YouTube Effect: Making Money from Viral Videos".
4. "Sam Tsui on YouTube (TheSamTsui)".
5. Van, Alan. (November 13, 2012). "Sam Tsui".
6. (March 6, 2015). "Aca-scuse me? Aca-Tsui!".
7. "The Duke's Men of Yale: Sam Tsui". [[Yale University]].
8. (September 12, 2010). "Sam Tsui's one-man choir hits YouTube". [[ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs]].
9. "Sam Tsui & Kurt Schneider: The Covers". [[Sh-K-Boom Records]].
10. (July 4, 2014). "At 9:15, Sam Tsui busts out his Cantonese". [[Young Post]].
11. "Meet The Duke's Men".
12. (October 28, 2009). "Tsui-eet sounds on ABC's World News Tonight". The Yale Daily News Publishing Company.
13. (November 12, 2009). "Cross Campus: 11.12.09". The Yale Daily News Publishing Company.
14. Joe. (November 11, 2009). "Sam Tsui upstages the entire cast of Glee". [[Yale University]].
15. Perlman, Jake. (September 2, 2014). "'Girls' meets 'Glee'? Watch the trailer for 'College Musical' with Allison Williams".
16. (February 22, 2010). "Incredible Feats". [[Harpo Productions]].
17. Schneider, Kurt Hugo. "KurtHugoSchneider's Channel".
18. Zuckerman, Esther. (December 2, 2010). "Tsui '11 and Schneider '10 on 'Ellen'". The Yale Daily News Publishing Company.
19. (December 2, 2010). "YouTube Sensation Sam Tsui Performs!". Ellen.WarnerBros.com. [[Warner Bros.]].
20. Tsui, Sam. (February 3, 2011). "My 'Hold it Against Me' cover was just posted on @britneyspears official website!! Ahhh! :-D".
21. (March 26, 2011). "Interview with Andy Frankham-Allen".
22. Hanks, Tom. (May 22, 2011). "Tom Hanks Addresses Yale Class of 2011". Yale University.
23. (January 27, 2010). "Video Gives Musical Answer to the Question: 'Why Choose Yale?'". [[Yale University]].
24. (December 4, 2017). "Admissions to debut new video: update on the 'That's Why I Chose Yale' cast". [[Yale University]].
25. Smith, Grady. (September 16, 2011). "'The Sing-Off' season 3 preview with Sam Tsui".
26. Zuckerman, Esther. (September 19, 2011). "Tsui '11 sings for 'Sing-Off'".
27. Ed, Carrasco. (May 10, 2013). "Sam Tsui Talks Release Of His First Original Album 'Make It Up' [INTERVIEW]".
28. (May 15, 2013). "Tour Dates – A Summer with Alex Goot and Friends".
29. Nitkin, Karen. (October 27, 2013). "Baltimore woman gleeful about making music to help sick children".
30. Moye, Jay. (August 14, 2013). "Behind the Bottles: 5 Questions With Kurt Hugo Schneider". The Coca-Cola Company.
31. (June 30, 2016). "Pentatonix, Sam Tsui, and Bruin Harmony Combine Forces For This Performance On Fox's "Bones"".
32. (June 10, 2021). ""Just A Dream" (Re-imagined) - Christina Grimmie, Sam Tsui, KHS".
33. "5 years after her shocking murder, Christina Grimmie's family and friends remember the YouTube star and singer as a 'raw talent' who could 'do just about anything'".
34. Summers, Claude. (June 4, 2016). "Celebrities Coming Out in the Internet Age".
35. TheSamTsui. (April 11, 2017). "VLOG: The Proposal Story!!! ft. Casey Breves".
36. Duffy, Nick. (April 18, 2016). "YouTube singer Sam Tsui comes out and reveals surprise wedding".
37. Lee, Ashley. (March 2, 2015). "Taylor Swift, Anna Kendrick, Neil Patrick Harris and Mark Ruffalo are also noted as top social media content producers, while 'Serial' joins the race for top podcast.".
38. (August 16, 2015). "Teen Choice Awards 2015 Winners: Full List".
39. Perelli, Amanda. (March 10, 2020). "Exclusive: All the finalists for this year's Shorty Awards, which won't be a physical event for the first time in 12 years because of the coronavirus".

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