He’s bringing out a Christmas single titled Winter Song co-written by six-time Ivor Novello Award winner Gary Barlow of Take That fame; he’s announced his debut album for next year; and next March, April and May he will be taking the album out on the road. Tom, who grew up in Burgess Hill and lives in Handcross near Crawley, is delighted the tour will bring him to a venue very close to his heart, The Capitol, Horsham on Friday, March 29. “It’s a venue I know very, very well and along with The Hawth, it is one of my two favourite venues. I am very lucky and really excited to be able to go back to the Capitol. It is just such a brilliant venue.” Tom was a schoolteacher when he embarked on his Britain's Got Talent journey and as his career has taken off, he has had to leave the teaching behind, finishing at the end of the last academic year. “Unfortunately and fortunately I just don't have time at all to be employed by a school. I'm a full-time artist now and it has been a year. It was a very risky decision and it was a very scary decision. You can never be quite sure after Britain's Got Talent what's going to happen and where you will go but looking back it's a decision I am incredibly pleased to have made. I'm very lucky to be travelling the world performing to audiences night after night. I had the pleasure of going to America and I've signed a record deal and I've got the album coming out.” The Christmas single was suggested to him in the studio by Eliot Kennedy who co-wrote it with Gary Barlow: “I was in the studio with Eliot who is an incredible musical theatre writer, and I was writing with him, and while I was there he stopped the session and said ‘I'd like to play you a song’ and it was the most beautiful song for the winter. It just fully encapsulated what I love most about this time of year, the family, the anticipation, being with your loved ones, just the whole thing of Christmas. When I heard it, it brought back all the memories and I just found myself so excited for Christmas when I was listening to it. And then he said ‘Gary and I wrote this song. Would you like to sing it?’ It's an amazing privilege.” And then comes the debut album Curtain Call which will be released on March 29, offering a mix of self-penned songs and classic covers, showcasing Tom’s powerful vocals as he celebrates his love of musical theatre and film. Alongside the album release, Tom will be embarking on the Curtain Call UK tour in 2024, a 14-date extravaganza which will feature songs from the album as well as other stage and screen classics. “I'm just so pleased with the way the album is sounding. The songs are from stage and screen plus some originals. It is epic songs with big arrangements, stage and screen, big production and orchestra. I adored doing it. A couple of songs have already been released. If you listen to I Who Have Nothing you will get a good idea of what the album is going to be like. We did the recording in the summer but there's a lot to do before it comes out to make sure that it is the perfect release for me, but the really lovely thing is that I'm so incredibly fortunate with my fans who've already been pre-ordering it which is great.”