Sandi Thom
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Alexandria "Sandi" Thom (born August 11, 1981) is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Macduff in Aberdeenshire. Thom has sold over a million albums and a million singles worldwide, and releases her second album entitled Pink and the Lily in early 2008. Thom first became famous for webcasting gigs from her basement flat in Tooting.
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Biography
While being educated at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen, Sandi was in a covers band called The Residents between the ages of 14 and 17, where she sang and played keyboards. Thom says she owes much of her musical knowledge to the years she spent with The Residents as this is where she formed a love for bands such as Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, The Beatles and artists such as Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin. Thom and the band travelled across Scotland, playing in pubs and clubs.
At the age of 17, Sandi attended the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts otherwise known as LIPA. While at the Liverpool Institute, she sang in a gospel choir called Love and Joy. It was with this choir that Thom sang You'll Never Walk Alone to 40,000 football fans at Liverpool's Anfield stadium. During her time at LIPA, Thom formed her own 7 piece band. The band entered a BBC Talent urban music competition, which was produced in association with BBC Radio 1, and made it to the semi-finals. They also recorded an EP, "Time To Breathe", at Parr Street Studios. Two of the founding members of the band, Craig Connet and Marcus Bonfanti, remain in Thom’s band to this day. The band also included Jake Field on keyboards; he went on to co-produce her first album and the forthcoming second album.
Career
In 2003, Sandi graduated from LIPA with a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts. Sandi then moved to London to pursue her songwriting career.
Thom chose to write both her albums with the same three co-writers; namely Jake Field, Duncan Thompson and Tom Gilbert, crediting the success of her music as much to her co-writers as herself.
Thom signed to Windswept Pacific Music in 2005, an independent music publishing company with artists on its roster such as Alice Cooper, The Futureheads and Nick Cave. Thom signed with UK arm, P&P Songs, whose stable of songwriters includes Craig David and hit-maker John McLaughlin. Thom writes in an interview that she had "been given the chance to work with a host of musicians and famous writers, in many places across the world she never thought she would get the chance to visit".
Re-release of "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker" and success
"I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker" was re-released on May 22, 2006. The song had been gaining in airplay exposure, and on download sales it achieved #15 in the general charts (and #7 in the download-only chart). The physical release had three formats: two CD versions (one featuring the radio mix and "A Light As Bright As Ours", another featuring the radio mix, the album mix, a further remix, "May You Never" and the video), and also as a 7" vinyl record backed with "No More Heroes". In the week of May 22, the song reached #2 in both charts.
She performed on Top of the Pops on May 28. On June 4, the song overtook Gnarls Barkley to reach #1 in the singles chart. Her album was released in the United Kingdom on Monday June 5, 2006. It went straight to number one, in the chart dated June 11.
The follow-up single What If I'm Right reached the lower reaches of the charts, but Lonely Girl, the third single from the album, was a download only.
The single was nominated for a Brit award but did not win. Thom responded, "I didn't expect to get one and would have been very shocked to win a Brit." Scots-born Thom also commented that "It was an exciting time to be a British female artist" and in the following months, she decided to politically align herself to the Scottish National Party which advocates the ending of the British union and wants total independence for Scotland. Thom has a growing friendship with the first minister Alex Salmond and appeared at a party organised by the SNP although as reported in The Scotland On Sunday Newspaper Thom was in fact paid £4,500 to appear.
In the Republic of Ireland, "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker" entered the singles chart at #10 (week ending May 25 2006), and rising to #2 in the following week (ending June 1), and then to #1 the week after, but was then knocked off the top spot by Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie".
I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker had most success overseas where it reached number 1 on the Australia "ARIA Charts" for ten consecutive weeks making it Australia's highest selling single of 2006.
Criticism
Thom has been the subject of criticism by many artists within the recording world, most notably from Lily Allen, The Fratellis and The Automatic. James Frost and Robin Hawkins from the band stated "If she was a punk rocker with flowers in her hair she'd get the s*** kicked out of her by other punk rockers, for having flowers in her hair"." I haven't found anyone who's told me they like that song and bought it."<ref>TOTPBBC TOTP Interview with The Automatic slating Thom - Retrieved December 5 2007</ref>
The Remake Of
Underground Alternative Hip-Hop artist Shief will be recording a version of "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker" on "Artist is born, not Paid", Shief's 2008 album. The chorus of the song will be used, with original material on the verses and the instrumentation.
21 Nights from Tooting
21 Nights from Tooting was a "tour" consisting of 21 performances from the basement of her Tooting flat, from 24 February to 16 March. These were recorded and then webcast by professional hosting company Streaming Tank.<ref>Channel 4 News. Sandi Thom Interview. 4 April 2006</ref> Tickets were sold, but the venue had a capacity of "six people" ("10 including the band").
The MySpace post announcing the gigs was posted in the early hours of 22 February. Thom's website states that "the idea [...] popped into her head" after her car broke down travelling from a gig in York (on the 22nd) to one in Wales (on the 23rd).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Thom's first ever video webcast was at the Edinburgh Left Bank venue, webcast in October by an independent production crew, Showstreams Productions as part of a fortnightly live video webcast night called www.leftbanklive.com. This crew was not run by Paul Boyd, her then PR manager. He worked with the Left Bank Live team to include Sandi Thom in their live webcast show, which was running from the venue previously. The same team then went on to launch the night Nexuslive (www.nexuslive.com).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Prompted by a contact from Thom's manager, news services noted Thom's promotion efforts. In a story first published 5 March, 2006, the Sunday Times ran a piece,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This was quickly reported on by other news sources.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>. The audience for the first day was around 60 or 70 and at its peak rose to a claimed 70,000.<ref>Scottish singer's Webcam concerts attracting crowds. Reuters/ZDNet News. 7 March 2006</ref> (no independent verification is available).
The March 7 Reuters story mentioned that "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker" was being rereleased the following week, with the album following in April. However, the publicity surrounding the tour led to major label interest, with music label representatives attending the gigs in question.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Thom subsequently accepted an offer by Sony. This led to the single re-release being delayed until May, when it was released on Sony's RCA label. The news of this broke on 3 April 2006, the official signing itself being webcast. The single was placed on Music Week Daily's playlist that day.<ref>Music Week Daily e-mail. 3 April 2006</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was the first artist signed the RCA label since its reorganisation.<ref name=logan>Template:Cite news</ref>
Controversy
Some observers have questioned how she was able to sustain production of the webcasts; critics suggest that she "could not have supported such a large audience on her webcast if she really was a starving artist". Others question the veracity of claims made about viewership. There are also questions as to the level of involvement of PR agency Quite Great.<ref>Template:Cite news </ref> Her manager, Ian Brown, in an interview with the Guardian, said the idea came from her, whilst her management and publicist claim to have conducted a large publicity campaign, including a million "virtual flyers" [unsolicited emails]<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In an interview with The Sun, Thom stated that Streaming Tank were "friends of my managers", agreeing that she could not have afforded commercial rates for this.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Some critics accused Sony of orchestrating the campaign. Craig Logan, the managing director of RCA, denied these accusations, claiming that the label was "drawn to" Thom after hearing of the webcasting.<ref name=logan />
Pre-21 Nights from Tooting live performances
Prior to the 21 Nights from Tooting, Thom had been actively touring in the UK in 2005. Thom made an appearance at the Northsound Radio to 40,000 Free at the Dee festival in Aberdeen on September 4, 2005<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>; a charity gig in Edinburgh later in September 2005, and was described as "hotly-tipped" by the Daily Record.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, in addition, Sandi "has been labeled a fraud" according to the Daily Record.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Thom supported The Proclaimers on their UK tour in December 2005 and toured with Nizlopi. She and her band continued to tour, playing the Pocklington Arts Centre near York on February 22, 2006, supported by Edwina Hayes, and the Queen's Hall in Narberth in Wales on February 23, 2006.
Thom performed on Ireland's The Late Late Show before the album release and was later one of the few artists to be asked to appear on the Top of the Pops Christmas special in 2006.
Touring in 2006 and after
Thom has played live in several unconventional venues. She had previously performed at the opening of the World Skiing Championships in Sweden, where the stage was set up at the top of a mountain range; she performed at the top of the BT tower in London on behalf of the DMA's (Digital Music Awards), performed for a Children in Need auction winner who paid the charity £17,000 for Thom to play her living room.
She played the Main Stage at T in the Park 2006, having been booked for the lowest billed stage. She headlined the acoustic tent at the 2006 V festival with Kasabian. In early 2007, Thom spent 6 weeks in France performing in every city across the country alongside a French artist at a free concert called the Ricard Live Tour. The concert attracted an average of 25,000 a night. She performed at English festivals such as Glastonbury, Guilfest and Redbourne; and in Scotland, the Wizard festival and the Belladrum Heart festival. Other festivals further afield included the World Fleadh in Ireland and the Fuji Rock Festival.
Thom is set to release her second album entitled Pink And The Lily on May 26th 2008.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Sales and certifications | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | IRL | NZ | AUS | |||
| 2006 | Smile... It Confuses People | 1 | 1 | 5 | 11 |
|
| 2008 | Pink and the Lily<ref>New Sandi album and free download Accessdate: 2007-10-05</ref>
| |||||
Singles
| Year | Song | United Kingdom | Ireland | New Zealand | Australia | Germany | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)" | 55 | — | — | — | — | Smile... It Confuses People |
| 2006 | "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)" Re-Release | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 16 | |
| "What If I'm Right" | 22 | 30 | 35 | 36 | — | ||
| "Lonely Girl" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008 | The Devil's Beat | — | — | — | — | — |
Tours
2008: Pink and the Lily International Tour
Other Artists
Similiar Artists
- KT Tunstall
- James Blunt
- Nelly Furtado
- Michelle Branch
- Linda Perry
- Pink
- Teddy Geiger
- Joss Stone
- Kate Nash
- Nerina Pallot
Contemporaries
External links
