''Lonely Are the Brave'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

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Maverick Sabre Michael Stafford (born 12 July 1990), better known as Maverick Sabre, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and rapper. Early life Sabre was born in Hackney, London. At age four, he moved with his family to New Ross, County Wexford, where he grew ...

. The album was first released on 27 January 2012 in

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, which was succeeded by a release in the

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on 6 February 2012. Three singles preceded its release, "

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" (July 2011), " I Need" (November 2011) and " No One" (February 2012). ''Lonely Are the Brave'' debuted at number-two on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

with first-week sales of 44,292 copies, also peaking at number two on the

Scottish Albums Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

and number three on the

Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by the ...

. It has sold 251,020 copies as of November 2015.

Background

Speaking in December 2011, Sabre explained his reasons for titling the album 'Lonely Are The Brave': "'Lonely Are The Brave' was actually the title of an old movie that I first heard about when I was really young - around 12 or 13 - and I actually thought the feeling captured in that one phrase was amazing, because I feel everybody at some point in their lives needs to be brave to get through loneliness. And, because I thought it also summed up a lotta the emotion behind this album - particularly in terms of where I was at when I was writing a lotta the songs - I just felt as a title it fitted the project really well."

Critical reception

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gave the album 4 stars out of 5 stars - "But while his voice may sound part-

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

, part-

Daniel Merriweather Daniel Paul Merriweather (born 17 February 1982) is an Australian R&B recording artist. Merriweather's debut solo album, '' Love & War'', was released in June 2009. It entered the UK Albums Chart at number two. It was preceded by two sing ...

, few could accuse him of leaning on others ..his first collection of self-penned tracks is both brutally opinionated and unnervingly honest."

Singles

" was first released in the

on 22 July 2011 as the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

from ''Lonely Are the Brave''. It debuted at number sixteen on the UK chart, marking Sabre's second top forty single after "

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"; which peaked at number thirty-one. The song also peaked at number thirty-eight on the Irish chart and number twenty-seven on the Scottish chart. The track was succeeded by " I Need", first released as the second single from ''Lonely Are the Brave'' on November 4, 2011. "I Need" debuted at number eighteen on the UK chart, Sabre's second consecutive release to achieve this feat, also peaking at number thirty-two on the Irish chart and number twenty-four on the Scottish chart - higher than the peak of the previous release. A third single, " No One", was released in the UK on 5 February 2012 to coincide with the album release. The single failed to chart in Ireland and Scotland, despite debuting at number fifty on the UK chart. A fourth single, "I Used To Have It All", was released in the UK on 30 April 2012. The fifth single "These Days" was released on 2 July 2012.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 debut albums Maverick Sabre albums Mercury Records albums