Sandi Thom

Sandi Thom’s infamous debut single topped the charts in 7 countries with the ensuing album shifting over a million copies worldwide and winning her an Ivor Novello award. That was 2006. After touring the UK & Europe with new Blues Powerhouse Joe Bonamassa in late 2009, opening for the likes of BB King and Steve Winwood, Sandi was inspired to explore deeper and more organic musical roots with her next record. 2010 heralds her return to the stage with the hotly tipped ‘Merchants & Thieves’ , released on the 17th May hlighting her tremendous versatility as one of today’s finest female musicians. At 17, Sandi Thom became the youngest ever student to be accepted at the prestigious Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts aka LIPA. It has been dubbed ‘The Fame Academy’ due to the number of industry professionals teaching there and having Sir Paul McCartney as its patron. It was here that she met her band and producers. In 2003, Sandi Thom graduated from LIPA with a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts and is the first and only LIPA Graduate to have a number one music album in the charts. Neo-folk-rock singer/songwriter Sandi Thom generated publicity and controversy when she landed a major-label record contract on the strength of a three-week live webcast series beamed across the Internet from the basement of her flat. Born Alexandria Thom in Banff, Scotland, on August 11, 1981, she spent her teenage years in a cover band dubbed the Residents whilst attending Aberdeen-based Robert Gordon’s College. A Glasgow gig brought Thom to the attention of the fledgling indie label Viking Legacy, and she issued her debut single, “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair),” in October 2005. The record earned airplay on BBC Radio 2 but the singer remained virtually unknown, maintaining a relentless tour schedule that included a stint supporting the Proclaimers on a brief U.K. tour. According to legend, Thom was returning from a gig in South Wales when her car broke down, sparking the idea to temporarily retire from the road and promote her music via more unconventional methods — she purchased a webcam for £60 and began planning a series of 21 live gigs over as many consecutive nights, broadcast from the comforts of her Tooting flat and available free over her website, www.sandithom.com. Launched on February 24, 2006, and streamed by professional hosting company Streaming Tank, the 21 Nights from Tooting series premiered to just 70 viewers — a night later, however, the total jumped to 670, and by the middle of week two the tally counted 162,000, with viewers hailing from the U.S., Russia, and the Middle East. The attendant media frenzy prompted major-label execs to begin literally knocking on Thom’s door, and in April she accepted an offer from Sony’s RCA subsidiary, airing the actual signing of the deal via webcast as well. RCA re-released “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker” that May, and on June 4, 2006, the single topped the U.K. pop charts, supplanting Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” (not coincidentally the first song to reach number one purely on the strength of Internet downloads). Thom’s debut LP, Smile…It Confuses People, arrived at retail a day after “Punk Rocker” went number one, and quickly assumed the top spot on the British albums charts as well. Her second album, The Pink and the Lily, was released in 2008. Her third album - 'Merchants & Thieves was released on the 17th May 2010.