“If you write it down in a list, it seems a little bit unimaginable,” laughs Tom Ball of the past two years, which saw the secondary school drama and music teacher go from the classroom to the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ stage, where he finished in the Top 3 and was praised by Amanda Holden as “one of the best singers we’ve had in 16 years”.
That was in 2022 – the following year saw him cross over Stateside for a stint on ‘America’s Got Talent: All Stars’, on which he was the last Brit standing, before heading into the studio to record his debut album, ‘Curtain Call’, out this month.
“I’ve always wanted to record music and have an album and write songs,” he smiles of the record, which showcases his lush, powerful vocals on a combination of classic covers and slick originals, such as bouncy single The Best Part and the warming Winter Song. “I’ve been writing songs since I was a little boy, but after I got the Golden Buzzer in the first round in America, it was on the flight home that my manager said: ‘You need to get in the studio and start recording’. So we independently recorded and released three songs, which led to the record deal and quickly blossomed into an incredible relationship with the team at Westway”.
Launched just three years ago, the label is home to stars of the Broadway and West End stages, such as Kerry Ellis, Ramin Karimloo and Rachel Tucker. Having already enjoyed global exposure, Tom could have taken his pick of labels, but it was the idea of working with label boss Neil O’Brien that convinced him Westway was the right fit.
“He is one of the most hardworking, driven and visionary people, so when I was talking to him I got excited about the future – and that makes a massive difference,” Tom smiles. “I also love musical theatre so it was a really obvious choice for me. I wanted to be in that world and potentially open up those doors at some point to maybe appear in the West End.”
He may have his eye on the role of Valjean in ‘Les Misérables’, but for now Tom’s joined forces with another West End superstar, Lucie Jones, on the new track Goodbye. “That day was very special,” he grins. “Lucie is someone I’ve looked up to for such a long time. I’ve seen her in ‘Waitress’, I saw her in ‘Les Mis’, and then to be in the room in the studio with her and for her to sing one of the songs that I wrote with Mike Stevens and Jay James was really lovely. Such great friendships have been struck there, which is nice.”
It’s not all musical theatre-oriented, with collaborators including legendary songwriter and producer Eliot Kennedy (Celine Dion, Bryan Adams) and Take That star Gary Barlow also among the impressive credits on the record. “I’ve been so fortunate to be in the studio with some really talented songwriters and musicians,” he grins. “It’s been amazing, especially for this first album, being in the studio with such a vast array of songwriters. Watching them, listening to them and seeing how they work has been so valuable. It allowed me to come back into my own studio and say, ‘Well, I’m going to adopt how Elliot Kennedy writes a song and I’m going to start doing that’, or, ‘OK, Matthew Nolan, let’s try his method’. It’s been really valuable.”
Tom’s been writing from a young age – “I remember me being in the back of the car with my sister and making up silly songs – that’s probably where it started,” he laughs – but the experience of crafting the record has only strengthened that creative muscle. “You sometimes hear the stories of musicians going, ‘It just came to me’, and I’ve never had that moment until Home Again, which I wrote at 2am,” he recalls. “I woke up and I knew that I had to write a song, so I did it in about 30 minutes, recorded it on my phone and sent it off to my manager, then went to bed. And it’s on the album!”
It was, he says, after the first ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ audition aired that Tom realised how much his life would change – even if he did return to school after his run on the show to finish up classes for the year. “I couldn’t let my kids down; I’d committed to them for the year so I was there for the year,” he maintains. “And those last eight weeks were my favourite, because every single student was so supportive and lovely. They came across quite proud that their teacher had gone and done that.”
Even after making a name for himself in the States, though, the vocalist was stunned by just how well known he was globally. “I love open top buses when I go to new places, because sometimes you’re only there for like a couple of hours and you can jump on and see everything,” he admits. “Anyway, I got on one in Barcelona and these two Spanish people came over going ‘Tom Ball! Tom Ball!’ – it does blow your mind!”
Looking to the future, his horizons are only set to broaden with Tom’s sights set on the next five years as he settles in for the long haul. “When I first signed with my manager, he put together a five-year plan and the second year consisted of going on tour and releasing an album – and on the two-year mark we’ve done both of them, which is really exciting,” he beams.
“For the five-year plan, it’s essentially not much of the same; continue to tour, potentially branch back out to America and into other European countries, and create and release music.”
