CORK born singer-songwriter Cian Ducrot has become the youngest Irish Grammy winner.
The All For You singer picked up the Gramophone trophy on Sunday night for his collaboration with US rapper SZA – but his rise to success hasn’t always been smooth sailing
Cian Ducrot picked up his first Grammy Award on Sunday night[/caption]
Cian has become Ireland’s youngest ever Grammy winner[/caption]
Cian won the awards in the Best R&B Song catagory[/caption]
The Cork singer has toured with ED Sheeran, performed with the Jonas Brothers and had his debut album reach number one in the UK and Ireland.
Cian has had an arduous climb to the top of the industry, from being rejected from The Voice UK to a dark childhood.
Here’s everything you need to know about the singer as he makes history, beating Bono‘s record of the youngest Irish Grammy Award Winner.
HOME LIFE
The 27-year-old grew up in a vibrant music household in Passage West, Co Cork.
His mum was a concert pianist and flautist, she originally hails from France, and Cian’s father is Irish.
He has previously opened up about the difficult times during his childhood; he hasn’t seen his father for years and has taken his mother’s French maiden name.
Reflecting on this period he said: “My mom, my brother and I became a team and music was our saviour. It saved us mentally and spiritually but it also allowed my mom to literally put food on the table.”
He told Hot Press: “My Mum had left my Dad, so it was that typical breakup thing of alternating between parents.”
HIS OWN RELATIONSHIP
Cian has been in a relationship with his girlfriend, Sofia Jane, a fitness coach, for close to five years.
Sofia regularly uploads blogs of her daily life on her social media channels, documenting everything from her workouts to trips away and going on tour with Cian.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
He took a keen interest in music during his school years when he began to take part in musicals and drama clubs.
This active involvement in his school’s music department led him to win a scholarship to Wells Cathedral School, a specialist music school in Somerset.
Soon after finishing his studies there, Cian received another scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he focused on classical flute.
TV BEGINNINGS
While studying at the Royal Academy of Music he took a trip to Los Angeles, which convinced him to drop out of the college and pursue his dream of becoming a pop artist instead of a classical flautist.
This realisation of his dream at one point led Cian to audition for the fifth season of The Voice UK.
He sang a cover of the Maroon 5 song, One More Night, but failed to pique any of the judges’ interest and went home without turning any chairs.
However, everything would begin to turn for the singer just four years later, during the pandemic.
Opening up on that experience, Cian said: “I tried The Voice UK, very unsuccessfully. I didn’t make it past the first round but I got to sing in front of Will.i.am, Paloma Faith, Boy George and that bloke from Kaiser Chiefs, Ricky Wilson. I was kinda pushed into doing the Maroon 5 song, One More Night.
“God, it was so bad… Afterwards, Will.i.am was like, ‘If you could have sung what you wanted, what would you have chosen?’ and I said, ‘Something that’s just me solo on my acoustic guitar.’
“He was like, ‘Do that right now’, so I did and the whole audience stood up at the end clapping. Ricky came over, gave me a hug and said, ‘I would have turned for you but I’ve already turned for somebody similar.’”
MIX IT UP
In 2020, after studying classical flute and realising his dream of being a popstar after his LA trip, Cian released his debut mixtape.
The record entitled, Started in College, was released in June of that year, which led to him being signed by Darkroom/Interscope Records.
Cian spoke about how he managed to create the mixtape, he said: “I started learning how to produce in school.
“It was in college that I started taking music seriously and that’s when I found out how I could release music and how I could put my music out there and really work to the point where my production and my writing was at a place where I was happy enough with it to put them out.
“And so that’s what started in college was for me… It really embodies what happened to me during those two years, like, all of the different things from falling in love to falling out of love.”
CAREER SHIFT
After signing with a record label, Cian’s career began to shift gears quite significantly.
Across February and March 2021, Cian released two singles to little success, but soon began to significantly ramp-up his releases.
By the end of 2021, he had put out a further five songs, and even released his debut EP in December of that year, when he decided to start uploading his music to TikTok.
2022 was the year everything changed for Cian as he released his highest-charting track to date, All for You; the song was not an instant hit.
The song gained significant traction on the social media platform, soon racking up millions of views and even leading to a remix with British singer Ella Henderson.
After the success of the tracks from his debut EP, Cian was announced as the support act for Ed Sheeran‘s 2023 tour.
He then released his debut studio album, Victory, which landed him number one on the UK album chart.
GRAMMY SUCCESS
With his career shifting from one success to another, Cian received a song writing credit on popular US rapper SZA’s song, Saturn.
On his collaboration, Cian said: “I went into the studio and SZA was so lovely, telling me that she was a big fan and had watched all my videos.”
“Inside my head, I was going, ‘Er, no, I’m the fan!’, It was so f****** surreal.”
During the 2025 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, the culmination of years of hard work paid off for Cian as he received his first ever Grammy Award for Best R&B Song.
He has since become Ireland‘s youngest Grammy winner, by the skin of his teeth, since Bono picked up a Gramophone for U2‘s The Joshua Tree, also at 27 years old.
Cian was five months younger than Bono on the day he nabbed his award, according to publicly available records.
The song entitled, Saturn, was a collaboration with US rapper SZA[/caption]
