'Stay With Me' singer Sam Smith opens up about his sexuality

Sam Smith has opened up about his sexuality in an interview prior to his performance at Somerset House on Friday.

The 22-year-old singer who is enjoying enormous success on both sides of the Atlantic with his debut album, 'In the Lonely Hour' has revealed the songs were inspired by his unrequited love for another man.

Sam has previously avoided the subject of his sexuality, but revealed that a conversation with the man prior to the album coming out gave him "closure".

"I told him before the album came out and it gave me a bit of closure actually," he said.  "It just put a book end at the end of the record.  It was amazing.

"I'm so happy I did it.  What I wrote the songs about don't affect me anymore and that's what I rely on, I literally rely on when they're singing it back to me, the songs almost come alive again.  It makes me emotional every moment when they're singing back.  I'm thinking, I can't believe this is happening to me."

The artist said he's "proud" of the reaction to him opening up about his sexuality.

"I am, I'm proud for the world, and the people in the world, for the way that they've reacted, because they've hardly reacted, which is exactly what we wanted," he said.

"If you go through my record collection, they're all straight people, they're all straight guys, straight women singing and I can still relate to their music, if you know what I mean?

"I wanted to make an album, I hate this idea of relating to just one type of person.  My dream from a young age is for the world to sing my music so I will forever make that promise to myself that my music, hopefully everyone will be able to relate to it.  That's my aim."

'In the Lonely Hour' has been listed among the top ten albums of the year in respected music trade magazine Billboard.

Smith has seen record-breaking success in the US with his album selling more than 166,000 copies in the first week, more than any other debut by a British male artist.

It hit No2, beaten to the number one spot by Lana Del Rey's 'Ultraviolence'.  His stunning performance on 'Saturday Night Live' no doubt raised his profile for the US audience - the single 'Stay with Me' sold more than one million copies.