Doherty saved me from drugs

BUSY GRENNAN ‘LOST CONTROL’

AN UNLIKELY combination of Covid and The Libertines saved Tom Grennan’s career from being ruined by drugs.

Early success allowed the Bedford singer to enjoy the trappings of fame a little too much and his partying had got out of hand.

Tom explained: “Running up to the pandemic I was in a bad way.

“I was very good at either hiding being off my face or just cracking on being high.

Ego

“I don’t know whether it was pressure, or a bit of imposter syndrome, also a bit of ego and success.

“I had the wrong people around me, people I thought were my friends but they weren’t, they were just using me for a place to stay or to lend them money.”

It was Pete Doherty’s, inset, band The Libertines – themselves no strangers to drugs and the excesses of rock & roll – who noticed Tom getting “out of control”. Tom’s manager John Dawkins recalled: “When you’ve got The Libertines ringing you, saying, ‘You need to keep an eye on him,’ then you’ve got big problems!” The pandemic allowed Tom time to regroup back at home with his parents.

The 27-year-old said: “My mum noticed I was changing, my moods and the way I was going about things.” He swapped excesses for fitness and never looked back, culminating in upcoming third LP What Ifs & Maybes, out June 16.

“I didn’t want to be sat there going, ‘I could have done that,’” Tom told Music Week.

“I wanted it to be that record where it could give people the confidence and the ambition to say, ‘I can do what I want to do but I’ve got to be the person who’s driving the car.’”

Tom’s new single How Does It Feel is out now.