This is Staffordshire --*
*Forget the comparisons with Jamie Cullum, singer-songwriter Tom Seals, backed by the wisdom of none other than Sir Paul McCartney, is a star in his own right. John Woodhouse meets the 20-year-old with the world at his fingertips
"When I was at his academy in Liverpool," recalls Tom Seals, "Paul McCartney gave me some advice. It was to do with songwriting. He said 'when you've written a song, go away, leave it for that day – if you come back the next morning and you can remember the song and the words then that's the one that'll be a hit'."
There's something else Tom remembers about meeting the ex-Beatle. "I was a shaking wreck! Let's face it, he is the most famous songwriter on the planet!"
Tom was one of 2,500 applicants chasing just 40 places at McCartney's internationally-renowned 'Fame Academy'. That he was successful was testament to a musical prowess honed since the age of four, albeit with an unusual, and slightly morbid catalyst.
"It's probably the earliest memory I've got," laughs the 20-year-old. "My sister was having singing lessons and she had this little 10-note keyboard. I remember stealing it and taking it off upstairs. I seem to recall the family cat had just died and I was a bit upset – it might have been because of that!
"Anyway, my parents noticed that, even at that age, I could pick out a tune.
"It was then that I started having lessons. By the age of 13 I was Stage 8, the highest you can go, on the piano."
But this wasn't a childhood genius set to work for hours and hours by demanding parents. "I did play for hours," he says, "but it was because I loved it. I'd come home from school and literally just sit there at the piano. Make no mistake, it really was a labour of love. And it's paying off now! The work I've had has been unreal. I'm living the life!"
The 'life' is an endless stream of high profile gigs and performing slots alongside such musical behemoths as Cleo Laine, Billy Ocean, Daniel Bedingfield, Tony Christie, Jason Donovan, Kenny Thomas, Beverley Knight, and Sandi Thom.
In but a few weeks Tom releases his debut album, and has been tipped by fellow wizard of the ivories Jools Holland as 'definitely one to watch out for'.
Although, thankfully, he is surrounded not by sycophants, but by those keen to keep his feet on the ground. "My mum is my biggest critic," he laughs, "and that's what I need, someone close who'll tell me truthfully what they think."
Tom puts his musical prowess down to his grandparents. His paternal grandfather made a name as a professional jazz trumpeter, going on to lead Crewe's well respected VCO big band.
"I was brought up listening to that kind of stuff – jazz and swing – and then my grandma on my mother's side had an eclectic vinyl collection – Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, that kind of stuff. I was probably the only kid at school listening to Glenn Miller! My sister was like 'what are you listening to that for, you weirdo?'" But I liked it – it was different to other music – it had a bit of soul to it. These were passionate performers. Their music made you feel something – it made you feel good."
Tom recognised early on that genuine passion was an absolute necessity for a successful performer.
"I knew I only wanted to play stuff I liked. That's the only way it could work. It's the only way you can create a vibe on stage. If you don't believe in what you're playing it kills it stone dead. Audiences aren't stupid – they can detect that in a performer.
"The truth is that when I'm on stage I'm having the time of my life."
Initially, though, Tom was reluctant to test out his vocal talents. "I'll be straight," he says, "I was hiding behind my keyboards – I saw myself as a piano player and that's it. I didn't start singing for about five years."
That's not to say Tom didn't believe he had a singer lurking within. He had, after all, applied to go on the child version of Stars In Their Eyes singing Can You Feel The Love Tonight? by Elton John ("I didn't get on"). And when it became increasingly apparent that was what bookers were looking for, he decided to take the plunge. It wasn't, after all, like he was going to be short of practice opportunities. "I've gigged every week for seven years," he says, "and my voice has blossomed in that time. I'm not copying, I'm not trying to be Sinatra or Bublé, I've found my own voice. Of course, I've grown up a bit in that time too – I've become less Aled Jones and more Tom Jones!"
Applying for the Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts seemed the next logical step. Simply to be offered a place at the academy, based in McCartney's old school, was an achievement in itself. "There were people there from all over the world – Japan, Finland, everywhere. There were only a handful of Brits." After a year, though, Tom took the decision to leave.
"It was an amazing experience," he says, "and I met some amazing people but I started my second year and just literally didn't go. I reached the decision that I was getting so much paid professional work that it didn't make sense. You know, I was getting five weeks work in Lapland, stuff like that."
But it was a decision which, understandably, caused some family concern. "I spent a lot of time battling with my mum! Her thought was that I needed my degree. I can see where she was coming from but I was speaking to the right people and they were saying 'are you getting professional work?'. The answer was 'yes'. And they were saying 'well, you might as well go'."
But his year with the academy did help him out when approached by one of the biggest jazz stars of all time. "That year," he says, "they made me learn this one song, Autumn Leaves. I was getting absolutely hammered for it – 'do it again, do it again'. I was ringing home complaining to my mum. It was driving me mad.
"Anyway, I was playing for Dame Cleo Laine, and she beckons me over to her. She was thinking of which song to do – in the end she says, you've guessed it, 'do you know Autumn Leaves?'. Do I know it? I'd spent months and months learning it. It was incredible. Some things are obviously meant to be!"
However, life as professional musician is far from a breeze. "You're basically working other people's sociable hours," reflects Tom, who has 500 gigs under his belt, many aboard cruise liners, "so it's not a sociable job. They're enjoying themselves, you're getting in at three in the morning clutching a takeaway.
"You do sometimes feel like you're invisible," adds Tom, who flits between his Willaston home and his girlfriend's in Liverpool. "I don't see a lot of my family. They work in the day and I work 7pm-3am
"You basically have very little social life of your own. I've been gigging solidly since 13 so I missed out on my teenage years.
"I'd be invited to things and I'd have to say 'sorry, I've got a gig'. Then there's the going out getting drunk with your friends, all that kind of stuff. But I'm not massively bothered about that. I haven't missed out on friendships.
"I took a chance on going down this route and I don't regret it.
"Right now I'm having the best time of my life and if I do wake up one morning and decide that I don't want to do it anymore then I'll try something else. That's one of the benefits of having done what I have at such a young age."
In a business notorious for chewing young starlets up and spitting them out, Tom, barely out of his teens, has already enjoyed a career longer than most. "I'm getting top professional work working with some amazing people," he says, "and have built my name up down the years. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet I know I can sell myself well. I can talk to people, build up a rapport with an audience."
His next step is to ensure it lasts. "It is competitive," he admits, "and the truth about the music business is that you've always got to be in it for yourself. You have to be clever about how you go about things. You've got to be able to walk the walk and talk the talk. You've got to get to know the right people, put yourself in the right place at the right time. You might, for instance, do a gig for free – not something you'd normally do, but you know there's one person in the room you'd really like to impress.
"It's like with Jools Holland," he explains, "obviously a really big name and really influential in the business. I know his brother and so I asked him if he could pass on some videos, which he did, and when I went to see Jools play at Arley Hall in Northwich I met him and we got talking about it."
When it comes to a really big break, Tom, who last week played the Nantwich Jazz Festival, admits "I'm still waiting for it."
He's hoping his debut album of original material will go a big way to providing it. He wants to be front of stage, not at the side of it. "I don't want forever to be known as the guy who plays piano."
He describes the long-player as 'bluesy pop' and is keen to differentiate himself from a name that will inevitably crop up – Jamie Cullum. "Jamie's done incredibly well," he says, "but that's the point – it's been done. In fact he's absolutely smashed it. So I'm not trying to be the next Jamie Cullum. I'm trying to be me and do something different. And that's not always easy – there's not much that hasn't been done already!"
Wherever the album takes him, Tom, who also plays guitar, bass, and drums, can be sure, at such a young age, he's at the start of something rather than the end.
"It's been an amazing ride so far," he says. "My music has taken me all over the world – New York, Europe, Africa (he spent a month giving music lessons to children in Namibia). When I look back at 70 I want to know I tried my hardest. I don't want to have any regrets. The rest is down to fate. My family are firm believers in 'if it wasn't meant to be then it wasn't meant to be'."
One thing Tom has forcefully resisted is going down the X-Factor/Britain's Got Talent route. "I'm not knocking those shows," he says, "but there's just an element of cliché about them. The X-Factor have tried to get me on there. They said 'we'll put you through to this round'. I said 'I can't do that date', so they said 'OK, we'll put you through to the next one'. But it's just not something I'm interested in."
Tom, a lifelong Crewe Alex supporter will this weekend be at Wembley cheering his team on in the final of the Johnstone's Paints Trophy. Indeed, he's included a tribute track on the new album – Crewe Moon, a twist on Blue Moon – which he's hoping the side will run out to at home games next season. On top of that, he's donating profits to Alex goalkeeper Steve Phillip's fundraising efforts for leukaemia and lymphoma research and Caudwell Children.
Tom Seals – clearly a young man with a heart as well as a voice.
For more information on Tom Seals and details of future gigs go to www.tomseals.co.uk. To pre-order his album go to www.pledgemusic.com/artists/tomseals Reported by This is 2 hours ago.