The youngest child of Keith Robinson, a carpenter, and Geraldine Robinson, a dental assistant from Hackney, London, Sam Ryder was born on June 25, 1989.
Katie and Natalie, his two older sisters, were born in Newham, east London, three and one years earlier, respectively. He was raised in Chelmsford, Essex, and from 2000 to 2007, he attended St. John Payne Catholic School.
When Ryder was young, he started singing and was motivated to pursue a career in music after watching the Canadian rock band Sum 41 perform live when he was 11 years old.
Ryder is a huge Eurovision fan and has fond memories of tuning in with his family while growing up in the rural Essex area.
He has a Sydney-based sister. He acknowledged that the success of the Finnish rock band Lordi at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest served as his motivation to begin studying the guitar.
Ryder said in a 2022 interview with Capital that he had previously worked in construction alongside his father and contributed to constructing Wembley Stadium.
