British soul singer Sam Smith won four Grammy Awards in the United States on Sunday night, including the prestigious prizes for record and song of the year and best new artist.

    Smith, 22, was rewarded for being the only solo artist to sell more than a million albums in both the United Kingdom and the United States in 2014.

    The night belonged to Smith, who has cemented his place as one of pop’s biggest stars just nine months after the release of his debut album “In the Lonely Hour.”

    Earlier, he said: “Before I made this record, I was doing everything to try to get my music heard... I tried to lose weight and I was making awful music. It was when I started to be myself that the music flowed.”

    Smith’s ballad “Stay With Me” won both song of the year and record of the year.

    Smith rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure’s breakthrough single “Latch,” which peaked at No. 11 on the U.K. Singles Chart. His subsequent feature — on Naughty Boy’s “La La La” — earned him his first No. 1 single in May 2013.

    Smith once had been in jazz bands. For a number of years he studied singing and songwriting under jazz vocalist/pianist Joanna Eden.

    He is a third-cousin of singer Lily Allen and actor Alfie Allen.(SD-Agencies)