I had success and fame... then I was left with nothing. My entire world caved in
9 years after THAT hit single, Sandi Thom reveals...
I had gone from broke to a worldwide phenonenon
ONLY days away from her dream wedding, singer Sandi Thom has spoken of her battle with drink and drugs and the depths of despair after being dumped by the music industry.
The Banff-born songwriter, who announced delightedly on social media two days ago that she is expecting her first baby, has disclosed that she went bust within two years of her 2006 UK number one single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair).
Miss Thom will marry Yorkshireborn financial services director Matt Benson, 39, on Saturday on Malibu Beach in California after a whirlwind romance.
But ahead of tying the knot, the 34-year-old, who was one of the first artists along with the Arctic Monkeys to become mainstream thanks to webcasts on the internet, admitted her past dark days.
She said: ‘I fell hard. I was left with nothing. Even my social networks were deleted, my videos removed, the fanbase I had built lost for ever. Why? Copyright issues. So for a long time, I was lost, completely lost, without a clue.’
She added: ‘They say the higher you climb, the further you fall. Well, I can vouch for that statement – give someone everything and then take it all away and watch how they respond. My label, my team of people, and then my manager all left me, told me it was over. “Go away and write songs for other people, you’re no longer an artist—that’s just not for you, Sandi”. That’s what they said.’
Until that dreadful moment in 2008, she had enjoyed two years of superstardom, having become an internet sensation and signing to Sony BMG, charting at No1 in a string of countries. At one point her entourage even included a globetrotting nail artist to make sure she looked perfectly manicured.
She said: ‘There is one enormous lesson you will learn in life and indeed in the music industry: finding someone you trust is like gold dust. In a moment, I had gone from unknown, broke and struggling to a worldwide phenomenon that everyone suddenly wanted to speak to. It was beyond ridiculous.’
But as quickly as it had arrived, it disappeared and as the world headed for economic meltdown in 2008 with the global financial crisis, her record company decided to offload several artists to save cash.
Miss Thom, whose baby is due in March, confirmed on Twitter and Facebook that she will be giving birth back in Scotland to be closer to her family. She added: ‘A combination of free downloadable music and the crash of the economy led to one giant cull. It was not only myself and several other artists who got dropped from the label that year; 200 or so staff members also got dropped. They were out of a job and so was I.’
The singer admits that for a long time she contemplated giving up on her own career and writing for others but eventually decided it was not for her.
‘Sure, I could write a song, a pretty good song when I wanted too – but did I want to be that person?’ she said. ‘The only place I know how to truly shine, full of confidence, is on a stage.’ She decided to prove her critics wrong and set about rebuilding her life and career, ‘wiping the slate clean and starting over’.
Miss Thom began touring again, downsizing from the luxury of a tour bus to a cold, damp van.
She recalled: ‘I drove myself and my band of merry men the length and breadth of Britain, determined not to fade away into obscurity.
‘I was determined to hang in there and show this world that it takes more to break this fiery little Scotswoman down. I even pushed myself so far that I contracted swine flu and had to spend two weeks in hospital, then a hotel room while my mother battled the winter snow and frost to try to rescue me.
‘It wasn’t easy and there were moments where I failed, made the wrong decisions, let people down unintentionally. But the one thought that kept driving me was, “What else can I do?”. I only know this life, I couldn’t live without it.’
She added: ‘There is no price you can put on the support of your parents when you go through your greatest and worst times in this business— from your first record deal to the backlash of the press, to the worldwide tours, the drink and the drugs, and finally exhilaration, like standing on the stage at the Royal Albert Hall. I only want to write music that touches people. I do it all for them, because their support over the past eight years has been what’s kept me going—that and a s*** load of whisky.’
Mr Benson proposed to the singer three weeks after they met by chance following ‘a night of tequila and tacos in Los Angeles’ on December 30.
She said: ‘It was pure fate that we met that night. The wedding is going to be an amazing celebration with friends and family and we can’t wait to spend our lives together.’