“A girlfriend bought me a Portastudio because she said I was wasting my time trying to be a fashion designer… she bullied me into committing to music”: Seal on how a Tascam four-track and two chords changed his life as he found his identity on guitar

Seal performs live on NBC's The Kelly Clarkson Show wearing a dark suit jacket, white T-shirt, and playing an acoustic guitar capo'd at the second fret.

For a time Seal wasn’t so sure about what he was going to do with his life. He was passionate about music but lacked direction. He had a voice but no identity. Enter the Tascam Portastudio, and with the help of an acoustic guitar, everything changed.

In a recent YouTube interview with Reverb, Seal says he was caught in two minds as to where his career was headed. But a gift – and some pointed advice – from a girlfriend made his mind up for him.