He has been certified as a Performing Vocalist by Trinity College Of Music,[33] London, and has briefly trained in Hindustani classical singing.[34] Apart from live performances, he also sings on and arranges voicings for films playback songs & background scores. Andrews has sung film songs and ad jingles in several Indian languages such as Hindi, Tamil,[35] Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Marathi, and Bengali. He has also done several international ad jingles for products in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, the West Indies, and more. He also sings in foreign languages such as Swahili, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, and more.
His debut neo-soul single ' People Ain't Things was mastered by Grammy Award winning mastering engineer Reuben Cohen from Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California. His music has featured on national television networks like MTV Indies, VH1 India, and 9xO, as well as the radio station Radio One (India).[36] Thomson performed for Vogue India's Women Empowerment initiative #VogueEmpower in 2014. Besides his solo accolades, projects, motown, R&B, funk music tribute concerts, and collaborations, he is part of a popular Indian a cappella ensemble called Raaga Trippin', with whom he performs live shows and creates original and cover songs.
In 2020, Andrews' musical influences[37] and songwriting skills include the genres of pop, R&B, funk, neo-soul, blues, soul, jazz, gospel, hip-hop, opera, rock and roll, and Sufi. He also mentors new musicians via his indie music Label Throan Of Art Music,[38] guiding them with professional singing tips onstage and in the recording studio.
Thomson Andrews performing with Sunidhi Chauhan at a Live concert
Early life
Andrews' involvement in music began when he first participated in school competitions. As a Roman Catholic, he also participated in his church choir. His family had roots in gospel music and its related genres such as blues, soul, and R&B. Andrews was born in Mumbai to a liberal South Indian family,[39] with a father from Kerala and a mother from Chennai.[40]
In 2005, he won a gospel talent show at the age of seventeen. He continued working while pursuing his college education as a science major. Andrews did not pursue a full-time music occupation. Instead, he began a corporate career and worked for four years, gaining experience in auditing, human resources, inventory, and contact centres among. To pursue his musical ambitions, Andrews switched to teaching Western music. He then started doing shows and concert performances.
Career
Andrews began his music career performing at the Indian Premier League (IPL) awards show with A. R. Rahman, his choir conductor Celeste Cordo, and his mentor Clinton Cerejo. Subsequently, he worked with ad composer Rupert Fernandes who used his voice on ad jingles for products like Nestlé, HCL, and Volkswagen. After the IPL, he continued working with A. R. Rahman on film projects, songs, and background scores with Clinton Cerejo and Suzanne D'Mello.
Andrews has lent his voice to movie songs as an additional vocalist for music directors and has sung on projects and jingles for various ad jingle composers in the advertising industry. His credits for singing and vocal arrangements are mentioned in Bollywood film productions from 2014 to 2015 including Dhoom3, D-Day, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Bang Bang, Happy New Year, Hasee Toh Phasee, Byomkesh Bakshi, and Bombay Velvet. He sang playback songs "Bach Ke Bakshi" for the 2015 movie Byomkesh Bakshi for music director Sneha Khanwalkar; "Shehar Mera" for the movie One By Two for music directors Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy; and "Rumani," a duet with Shalmali Kholgade in the movie Akaash Vani[41] for music director Hitesh Sonik. Apart from Bollywood films, he has also sung playback songs in South Indian films for music director M. Ghibran: "Saridhaana Saridhaana" for the Tamil movie Amara Kaaviyam,[42] "Rajadhi Rajanappa" song for the Telugu film Run Raja Run,[43] "O Pagol Mon" for the Bengali movie Dashami and "Kanna Muche" for the Tulu Film Aamait Asal Eemait Kusal.
Throughout his journey as a full-time vocalist, Andrews has been associated with international music projects. He has sung on the background score of the Oscar-nominated Hollywood film 127 Hours for A. R. Rahman and has lent additional vocals on the song "Satyameva Jayathe" (song) from the international album SuperHeavy for A. R. Rahman, involving Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, and Damian Marley. He has also worked with Indian Hollywood filmmaker Mira Nair along with music director Vishal Bhardwaj on songs for the musical adaptation of her film Monsoon Wedding. He has performed in an international opera, Madama Butterfly, including cast members from Austria, Korea, and America, staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (India) and has musically directed adaptations of the musicals Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Oliver staged in Mumbai and played the role of Mr Bumble in Oliver. He performed with the Cadenza Kantori choir at The Rottenburg am Neckar Festival of Choirs in Germany and at Taizé Community in Burgundy, France.
In April 2014, Andrews launched his debut single, "People Ain't Things",[44][45] a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning sound mixer Reuben Cohen (Hollywood) and Deepak Palikonda. The track won prominent airtime on MTV Indies, VH1 India, 9XO, and Radio One.[46]
Since then, he has released other singles: "I Got Your Money" in 2017, "We're No Strangers" in 2018, and "Ke Holi Hain" in 2018. The latter two songs were favourably received and played frequently on BBC Asian Network Radio – London. They were tracks of the week at IGYM. The song's music videos have garnered more than one million YouTube views.
Andrews, who is known for his quirky style, hair-dos, and glasses,[47] performed for Vogue India's Women Empowerment initiative #VogueEmpower in 2014. He organizes Motown, R&B, funk, and soul music tribute concerts in Mumbai.[48]
In 2019, Andrews became a TV host for a 6 episode music travel-based reality show,[49] shot across India,called Royal Stag Hungama Music Bus. There he experienced Indian culture, the local cuisine, cultural music, impromptu jams with homegrown bands, and Indian popular celebrity music icons from each city and state. Along with the local bands, these celebrities would jam with Thomson, and together they would vibe on a tour bus named Royal Stag Hungama Music Bus. These celebrities shared their untold experiences, followed by a light-hearted chat about music, food, and more. The event would then end with a concert performed by the music icons for their fans in that particular state or city. This music travel reality show featured the likes of Javed Ali, Hardy Sandhu, Jassi Gill, Indian Ocean, Jeet Ganguly & Revanth, which aired on Showbox Channel and on Hungama Digital Media.
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