Tom Cridland is a half Portuguese, half English singer songwriter who idolised The Beatles as a boy. Following two pitiful attempts at recreating the magic of the Fab Four by forming bands with friends at school, Tom arrived at University in Bristol where he divivided his time between boozing, eating Domino’s and singing in karaoke bars, developing a gargantuan passion for Elton John’s music and persona that resulted in him taking out Wonga loans to afford shiny shoes and sparkly sunglasses.
Not deterred by the litany of noise complaints he had already received from housemates and neighbours for constantly blasting out “The Bitch Is Back”, Tom was inspired by a new friendship with Nigel Olsson to buy a drum kit and learn to play. Despite his expanding waistline and dependence on tablets to combat hair loss, Tom somehow managed to enter into a relationship with Deborah Marx, together with whom he formed The 30 Year Clothing Co.
Thanks to their sustainable clothing business, Tom was able to end a quite disgraceful but thankfully short-lived tenure as trainee accountant. Avoiding the office, he devoted his time to attending Elton John concerts (he has been to over 30) and forming The Tomicks with his friend Nick Whitehead, inspired by their shared fandom. Writing and recording three albums, they worked with Simply Red’s Kenji Suzuki at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles and David Bowie’s longtime lead guitarist Earl Slick at Abbey Road.
In 2019 Tom began his solo career. Manically writing and recording over 100 songs in just a few months, he began releasing a single every week. After putting out the first, Falling Off The Rails, he embarked on a tour of all 48 contiguous states of America in 80 days. This promotional endeavour involved television and radio appearances during the day, followed by concerts in the evening, mostly in squalid dive bars to audiences unfamiliar with his music. Now a puritanical flexitarian teetotaller, Tom’s new music was accompanied by a revelatory narrative on social media that delved into his many years of excessive alcohol consumption as well as several rather juvenile music videos.
Thanks to his unorthodox marketing, Tom’s first songs, which form the album Falling off the Rails, led to The Stylistics inviting him to tour with them, starting this coming October. This year Tom has also launched a podcast, Greatest Music of All Time, which sees him in conversation with the likes of Annie Lennox, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chance the Rapper, David Guetta, Steve Lukather of Toto, Joey Tempest of Europe, Smokey Robison, Otis Williams of The Tempations, Graham Gouldman of 10cc, Kool & the Gang, Sir Cliff Richard, Seal, Johnny Marr, Don McLean, Bobby Elliott of The Hollies and David Crosby.
