Tom Odell whose debut album, LONG WAY DOWN entered the U.K. Albums chart at No. 1 earlier this year, wraps the year with some major headlines.
Odell has been selected as one of MTV’s “Artist To Watch” during the month of December. Click here for more info on MTV’s “Artist To Watch.” Odell won the 2013 BRITs Critics’ Choice Award and recently received a Q Magazine nomination for Best New Act.
Also, Tom Odell has been handpicked to serve as the opening act for Billy Joel on select upcoming dates in the US early 2014 including 2 nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden (Find tour dates listed below).
Odell just released a brand new video for his song “I Know” this week, also featured on LONG WAY DOWN. Click here to watch.
Fans can now own Tom Odell‘s performance from L.A. public radio station KCRW’s acclaimed show “Morning Becomes Eclectic” as a 10″ vinyl release, which features his performances of “I Love LA/Hold Me,” “Grow Old With Me,” “Oh! Darling” and “Another Love.” Click here for more information or http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb130523tom_odell.
“Passionate…cerebral” is how Clash describes Odell. Q Magazine praised his “startlingly immediate love and loss songs,” noting that he “sings like his lungs are so deep you could cave dive into them.” Time Out London hailed Long Way Down as “accomplished…an album of earworm pop songs with profound undertones” and the Daily Telegraph observed, “[The] 22-year-old from Chichester has poured all the reckless romance and intense sincerity of youth into a record full of walloping big tunes, most of which deserve to be singles.”
“‘Another Love’ may be the track of the year,” said MOJO in a four-star album review while London’s Sunday Timeshailed itas “genuinely chilling.” The song, which is Odell’s first U.S. single,debuted in the Top 10 in the U.K. and is already certified Gold across Europe. His videos for “Another Love” have racked up more than 10 million views combined. He made his US television network debut on “The Late Show with David Letterman” (watch it here) and recently performed the track on “Conan”- click here to watch. Odell recently performed “Hold Me” from his critically-acclaimed debut album Long Way Down on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe just nominated “Hold Me” for the “Hottest Record of 2013.”
Classically trained on piano from an early age, Odell grew up in Chichester, located in southeast England, and later moved to Brighton, attracted by its music scene. Eventually, Tom made his way to London, seeking a wider audience. His plan was not immediately successful – Odell wound up playing sparsely attended shows, running out of money and sleeping in a car borrowed from his grandmother. A demo found its way to Lily Rose Cooper, who quickly signed him to her In The Name Of record label after seeing Odell perform live. With the label’s blessing, Tom spent nine months holed up in a tiny east London room, outfitted with simply a piano and a desk, penning the songs for his debut. He recorded most of LONG WAY DOWN with his bandat RAK Studios in London.
Tom Odell Tour Dates with Billy Joel
1/7 – BB&T Center – Sunrise, Florida
1/11 – BB&T Center – Sunrise, Florida
1/17 – Tampa Bay Times – Tampa, Florida
1/22 – Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena – Jacksonville, Florida
1/27 – MSG – New York, New York
2/3 – MSG – New York, New York
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About MTV Artist to Watch: MTV Artist To Watch is a new pro-artist and music discovery initiative and campaign across all of MTV’s television channels, websites and social networks. Every two weeks, MTV will select and then feature a new “Artist to Watch” that spans multiple genres including pop, EDM, hip hop and rock. Each artist will be showcased across MTV’s various television channels (including MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits and MTV Jams), websites (including MTV.com, Artists.MTV, and MTV News and social networks (including @MTV, MTV on Facebook, MTV on Instagram, MTV on Tumblr). MTV will showcase exclusive content across its various channels including live performances, interviews, video rotation, song placements in shows and more.