Sandi Thom

Sandi Thom is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from  Banff Scotland. She became widely known in 2006 after her debut song “I wish I Was a Punk Rocker (with Flowers in my Hair)”, topped the UK Singles Chart in June of that year. The single became the biggest-selling single of 2006 in Australia, where it spent ten weeks at the top of the ARIA Singles Charts. Sandi has released five studio albums:  

The start of her Career 

It was during the cold, short days of 2006 that Sandi Thom had her Eureka! Moment. Instead of driving to gigs up and down the country in her clapped-out 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. The audience capacity in the apartment was just six people. But the half-hour shows were to be broadcast, free of charge, via her website. 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 an incredible voice – strong and expressive enough to fill large theatres, but also warm and soulful winning 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 £60 webcam. The story goes a little deeper than that.

Sandi Thom has spent half a lifetime writing songs and performing gigs.

Sandi says. “I grew up on Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and many more. I was influenced by the Blues and Rock greats along with singer-songwriters, like Dylan, Carole King and Buffy Saint Marie. It was a mixture that certainly influenced the way I sing and play.”