biography
It was during the cold, short days of 2006 that Sandi Thom had her first Eureka! moment. Instead of driving to gigs up and down the country in her old car, as she had done for years, the singer from Scotland resolved to try a different approach. She bought a webcam, announced a run of 21 shows to be performed on consecutive nights in the basement of her flat in South London and became the first artist in the history of the music industry to broadcast a tour live from her home. The audience capacity in the flat was just six people. But the half-hour shows were to be broadcast, free of charge, via her website at www.sandithom.com. The first night, 70 people tuned in, the next night it was up to 670. And by the middle of the second week, she was performing to a peak audience of 70,000. By then, the suits from every major record label had visited the flat to see the show for themselves. What they heard was a singer with a sensational voice – strong and expressive enough to fill the largest theatres, but also warm and soulful enough to win over hearts and minds in the most intimate of settings.
Even before her debut album, *Smile… It Confuses People* was released on June 5, preceded by a single, *I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker* on May 22, 2006 Sandi Thom was a phenomenon. The record company called her “the first webcast signing in major record label history” and she became the overnight internet star who won a global audience and a megabucks handshake thanks to her investment in a ÂŁ60 webcam. Needless to say, the story goes a little deeper than that.
Sandi Thom has spent half a lifetime writing songs and performing gigs. She began learning piano at the age of three. Sandi was born in a small fishing village called Banff on the North East coast of Scotland. Both her mother and father came from musical backgrounds. Her father, a fisherman who became a helicopter pilot, used to sing, and play guitar to Sandi every day.
Mojo magazine gave it a 4 star review describing her sound as having the “oomph of Joan Osbourne”, Maverick magazine wrote home with a 5 star rating and Classic rock magazine stamped their approval on the record by displaying Sandi on their front Cover.
There is no doubt that the new sexy, sassy, raw and rootsy Thom won the respect of the media and music critics alike, with this new record, however she also caught the attention of her peers.
As well as spending huge amounts of time raising her son Logan she has voluntarily managed the Dogfather centre following the death of its founder Tony Waters. All of the inhabitants of the dog father centre will be relocated to BARC, a custom built animal shelter, training facility and educational facility. Sandi’s long term goal is to duplicate this effort worldwide under the umbrella “The ARC Foundation” her animal charity.