Musician Thomson Andrews is bringing a musical revolution in the industry with his Pop, RnB renditions in Bollywood films and ad jingles

Being a Catholic by birth, Thomson Andrews grew up singing Gospels in his school choir group. A star performer, he went on to win a gospel singing competition named Glory at the age of sixteen which gave him the opportunity to travel worldwide. Despite the blessing of an unique voice, however, he would not have become a professional musician had it not been a debuting opportunity with the legendary A.R. Rahman. Today, he is bringing in a musical revolution in the industry through his Pop, RnB renditions in ad jingles, Bollywood films and has international projects down his pipeline.

How has the musical journey been, so far?

It was in 2010, that I got a call from sir A.R. Rahman’s team that changed my life. The opportunity to perform Vande Mataram with him in IPL 2010 opened up new doors for me and I have had to never look back after that. The boy who once wanted to grow up to be a doctor ended up being a full time musician. Ever since, I have worked with almost every big name in the industry such as Vishal Bhardwaj, Vishal Shekhar, Amit Trivedi, Pritam Chakraborty, Neha Kakkar and Sunidhi Chauhan. My vocal arrangements in coke studio and MTV unplugged also got me a lot of attention.

You had a very striking transition from Gospel to Pop and RnB. What were the challenges?

I was hailed by many as talented with a quirky look. I received suggestions that I should change my name to something more Indian. While training in Indian Classical, my guruji asked me to lose my vibrato. The thing is, I never wanted to convert myself into souonding like someone else. I wanted to sound like myself and be known for who I am.

Is Pop and RnB gaining the much required momentum now?

Bollywood has become quite global in the past few years. It has soaked in a lot from western practices. My second playback was a jazz number named Shehar Mera with Shankar Ehsaan Loy, featuring Abhay Deol. I have also sung a Michael Jackson inspired song for the film Akash Vani that was filmed on Kartik Aaryan and Nusrat Bharucha. People have a notion that western singers cannot sing Indian music and vice versa, which is a bad stereotype.

Will we see you composing more independent music?

When I started off, my focus was not on playback singing but putting out music to the universe in my own way. Last year I launched my own Media Solutions Agency- Throan of Art LLC which also promotes video and music production.

What are current projects you are working on?

I recently sang for Pritam Chakraborty for background music in 83. Alongside singing the original in Hindi, I dubbed it in four other languages. There are releases coming up in Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra and Apple TV’s upcoming web series Raphanis, where I’ll be lending my voice to the character Wembley.