Sandi Thom

Sandi Thom biography

Alexandria "Sandi" Thom (born 11 August 1981, Banff, Aberdeenshire) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She became widely known in 2006 after a series of webcasts and the success of the single "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)". Thom has released three studio albums: Smile... It Confuses People (2006), The Pink & The Lily (2008) and Merchants and Thieves (2010).

Life and career

1984-2004: Early life

Thom was born in Banff, Aberdeenshire. She attended Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen. At the age of 17, Thom became the youngest student to be accepted at the prestigious Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). In 2003, Thom graduated from LIPA with a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts.

Thom has assisted charity appeals for Oxfam's work in Malawi.

In 2004, Thom moved to London to pursue her song-writing career, working with three co-writers: Jake Field, Duncan Thompson and Tom Gilbert. Thom signed to Windswept Pacific Music in 2005, an independent music publishing company, and its UK arm, P&P Songs, and received 25,000 pounds. She signed a record contract with the small record label Viking Legacy, who released her début single, "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)" in late 2005. The song failed to garner major airplay or sales and release of her début was delayed.

21 Nights from Tooting was a "tour" consisting of twenty-one 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. 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) and following the very first live webcast she did at a gig in Edinburgh organized by her PR manager, Paul Boyd. Thom's first ever video webcast was at the Edinburgh Left Bank venue in October 2005. 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, This was quickly reported on by other news sources. The audience for the first day was around 60 or 70 and at its peak rose to a claimed 70,000. The 7 March Reuters story mentioned that "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker" was being re-released 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, and the release of the records was put back until a deal was signed.

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. Paul Kelly of the Independent and others have questioned how she was able to sustain production of the webcast, and it viewership figures. Her manager, Ian Brown, in an interview with the Guardian, said the idea came from her, whilst her management and Music PR team, Quite Great Communications, claim to have conducted a large publicity campaign, including a million "virtual flyers" unsolicited emails. Thom described Streaming Tank as "friends of my managers", since she could not have afforded commercial rates for the streaming. Craig Logan, the managing director of RCA said that the label was "drawn to" Thom after hearing of the webcasting, as has Thom herself.

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