Tom Odell and His Rise to Fame
Tom Odell is one of the most successful British artists of the twentieth century and is one of the iconic ushers of Indie pop into modern culture. His classic melodies and unique voice draw audiences from all spectrums whether that be age, gender, social class, or citizenry and allows a broad group of people to collectively agree on the talent of one person and unite as lovers of music. Below, you will find a Table of Contents that will lead you to references, opinions, music videos, and more all featuring Tom Odell and his truly soulful music.
Table of Contents
- Who Is Tom Odell
- Early Life
- Big Break
- Career
- Influencers/Inspirations
- Tom Odell Facts
- Best Songs
- Best Music Videos
- Interviews
- Concerts and Tickets
1. Who Is Tom Odell
“I don’t really use Facebook because I find it a bit intrusive on your personal life.” ~Tom Odell
Thomas Peter Odell, or more commonly known by his stage name as Tom Odell, is an British singer and song writer that has been preforming since 2012 and is considered one of today’s most famous Indie Pop artists and an usher of the Indie Pop craze that was prominent in the early 2000s and much of the 2010s.
2. Early Life
“I’ve only ever had one doubt about music. It came when I was 11. I hated playing scales.” ~Tom Odell
Tom Odell was born in Chichester, West Sussex, England to middle class family with an airline pilot as a father and a primary school teacher as a mother; he also has one older sister. Not much is known about Tom’s early childhood because of his shy and private personality, although he does occasionally share some of his early experiences with music. From Brainily Quotes, he states, “When I was around 13 or 14, I started getting really into songwriting. And one day, I was rooting through my mum’s old tapes and records, and I found ‘Grace’ by Jeff Buckley. I remember so vividly the first time I put it on. It blew my mind: his voice, the way he could play the guitar. I must have listened to the album over and over for weeks.” Throughout many interviews, he implies that he had a very normal and average childhood, but although he played music, he did so secretively. It wasn’t until he started to grow into adulthood that he decided to immerse himself into the music world and find his way out of the shadows and onto the stage. But even though many people see him as a talented musician, he has insisted that he was not a particularly gifted child. He says, “Singing didn’t really come naturally to me, I don’t think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing.”
3. Big Break
“My aspirations aren’t to sell millions of records but to write really good songs.” ~Tom Odell
On December 20, 2012, Lily Allen signed Tom Odell to In the Name Of, an imprint of Columbia Records. Wikipedia writes, “Allen remarked, ‘his energy onstage reminded me of David Bowie.’” After he was discovered, he released his debut extended play, Songs from Another Love, in October 2012 that gained immediate success with “Another Love” peaking at number ten on the UK Singles Chart. Only a year later in 2013, Odell won the BRIT Choice Awards and became the first male artist to win with him anchoring a long chain of popular musicians such as Adele.
4. Career
“Songs are about just being totally honest and putting those words to music.” ~Tom Odell
From 2014 to 2015, Tom Odell’s music was featured in many popular movies and tv shows such as The 100, The Blacklist, The Fault In Our Stars, If I Stay, The Vampire Diaries, and more. He has also won many awards such as the BRIT Award’s Critics’ Choice Award and the Ivor Novello Award’s Songwriter of the Year Award; as far as nominations though, he has been a strong contestant for MTV’s Brand New for 2013, BBC’s Sound of 2013, and the BRIT Award’s British Male Solo and British Breakthrough Act. As of 2020, Odell currently has four finished albums: Songs from Another Love (2012,) Long Way Down (2013,) Wrong Crowd (2016,) and Jubilee Road (2018.) There has been no mention of a fifth album coming, but he is still performing, touring, and hopefully writing.
5. Influencers/Inspirations
“I think everyone mentions Bob Dylan, but he’s someone I just admire so much as a songwriter.” ~Tom Odell
In most interviews, Tom Odell cites Elton John and Bob Dylan as two of his earliest and most potent inspirations; in addition, he states that Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is one of the first albums that he listened to, referring to the classic Elton John album. From Wikipedia, he also includes David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, Arthur Russell, Leonard Cohen, Leon Russell, Billy Joel, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Rodríguez, and Bruce Springsteen as influencers as well.
6. Tom Odell Facts
“I don’t think I’ll ever grow a beard.” ~Tom Odell
- He worked as a barman and told Jack Whitehall in an interview, “I was a cocktail barman…I got sacked because I told them that I could make cocktails, and it turned out that reading from the instructions wasn’t a good idea.”
- He was in a band called Tom and the Tides but decided to go solo because he “didn’t want to rely on other people.”
- After experiencing a messy breakup with his girlfriend, Sydney Lima, Odell rushed to the hospital after having a panic attack in which he had thought, in the moment, that he was having a heart attack. He says, “I wasn’t aware omnipresent anxiety had a name, I thought that was just me until it exploded last year.”
- Tom used his grandmother’s car to travel to London to play shows when he was in school.
- He started writing songs at thirteen.
- He has a cat.
7. Best Songs
“You can write songs in New York because it’s not always perfect. To write a good song, things can’t be perfect.” ~Tom Odell
- I Thought I Knew What Love Was
- Long way Down
- Concrete
- Storms
- Jealousy
- Another Love
- Can’t Pretend
- Wrong Crowd
- Somehow
- I Know
8. Best Music Videos
“I want people to hear the honesty in my singing and that I’m not hiding behind anything.” ~Tom Odell
- Go Tell Her
- Concrete
- If You Want to Love Somebody
- Grow Old With Me
- Wrong Crowd
- Another Love
- I Know
- Sense
- Somehow
- Hold Me
9. Interviews
“I genuinely find the most meaningful thing I do is to make music.” ~Tom Odell
One of the most important aspects of a musician’s appearance in the media is not the feedback or reviews of their songs- but listening to their opinions and their way of talking to an average person or fan. The demeanor as well as the personality of a socially powerful figure is just as important as their work because people will look to their role models as moral compasses. Below are a list of my favorite interviews with Tom Odell and the best representations of who it seems he is when he is off the stage.
10. Concerts and Tickets
