At the age of 17, Thom
b
ecame
the youngest ever student to be accepted at the prestigious
Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
(LIPA). It has been
dubbed 'The Fame Academy'
due to the number of industry professionals teaching there and
having Sir
Paul McCartney
as patron. Thom also sang in a gospel choir called
Love and Joy,
the highlight of her tenure being a rendition of
You'll Never Walk Alone
to 40,000 football fans at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium sang by
the Choir. In 2003, Sandi Thom graduated from LIPA[4]
with a BA (Hons) in
Performing Arts
and is the first and only LIPA Graduate to have a number one
music album in the charts.
In July, 2008, Thom fronted an emergency Oxfam appeal in Glasgow[5] to raise awareness of the water shortage in East Africa. Later that year, in October, Thom traveled to the African country of Malawi with Oxfam, to help raise awareness of the effect of the economic problems of the West upon the poorest countries.[6] In February, 2009, she performed at the Moni Malawi Fundraiser Dinner in Glasgow, which aims to raise money to help the stricken people of Malawi. Thom returned as an alumna to Robert Gordon's College in April, 2009, and played four songs including "I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)";.
It was revealed in press interviews in May 2010 that Thom and her fiance/Producer Jake Field had broken off their engagement and Thom was in a relationship with blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa who she met in 2009 after appearing as a Guest vocalist on his tour dates. Thom left London in July 2010 to relocate back to her home country of Scotland.
21 Nights from Tooting was a "tour" consisting of 21 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.[8][9] 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 traveling 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.[10]
Thom's first ever video webcast was at the Edinburgh Left Bank venue in October 2005.[11] 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,[12] This was quickly reported on by other news sources.[13] The audience for the first day was around 60 or 70 and at its peak rose to a claimed 70,000.[14][dead link] 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.[15]
Signing with Sony (RCA)
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.[16][17][18] 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].[19][20] Thom described Streaming Tank as "friends of my managers", since she could not have afforded commercial rates for the streaming.[21]. Craig Logan, the managing director of RCA said that the label was "drawn to" Thom after hearing of the webcasting,[22] as has Sandi Thom herself
