Thomson Andrews is a multi-lingual Indian playback singer, performer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He is currently featured on the Amazon Prime original music show The Remix as one of the newer contemporary Indian playback singers and a live performer. Thomson has been certified by Trinity College of Music, London as a performing vocalist. He trained briefly in Hindustani classical singing at the Gwalior gharana. Thomson has produced numerous hits and ad jingles over the years. He was particularly notable among the Hindi speaking audience with "Bach Ke Bakshi" from Detective Byomkesh Bakshi, "Rumani" from Aakashvani and "Sheher Mera" from One By Two. He is also known for his diverse singing range demonstrated in several hits. Aside from his Bollywood career, he is also involved in other media projects such as MTVCoke Studio Season 2 and MTV Unplugged Seasons 1, 2, and 6. He has worked and collaborated with industry veterans such as Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Pritam, and Amit Trivedi.
Early life
Thomson's involvement in music began when he sang at school competitions. As a Roman Catholic, he also participated in his church choir. His family had very strong roots in Gospel music and its related genres such as blues, soul, and R&B. Thomson was born in Mumbai to a liberal South Indian family, with his father hailing from Kerala and his mother from Chennai. He was catapulted into the world of music when he won a gospel talent show at the age of seventeen in 2005. He continued working while pursuing his college education as a science major. Thomson did not pursue music full-time. Instead, he began a corporate career and worked for four years, gaining experience in auditing, human resources, inventory, and contact centers among others. To pursue his musical ambitions, Thomson switched to teaching Western music. He then started doing shows and concert performances.
Career
He began his music career when he performed at the Indian Premier League awards show with A. R. Rahman with his choir conductor Celeste Cordo and his mentor Clinton Cerejo. Subsequently, he worked with ad composer Rupert Fernandes who used his voice on many ad jingles for products like Nestlé, HCL, and Volkswagen. After the IPL show, he continued working with A. R. Rahman on numerous film projects, songs, and on background scores with Clinton Cerejo and Suzanne D'Mello. Thomson has lent his voice to numerous movie songs as an additional vocalist for many music directors and has sung on many projects and jingles for various ad jingle composers in the advertising industry. His credits for singing and vocal arrangements are mentioned in recently released 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 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, "Rajadhi Rajanappa" for the Telugu filmRun Raja Run, "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, Thomson has been associated with many international music projects and has sung on the background score of the Oscar-nominated Hollywood film '127 Hours' for A. R. Rahman, has lent additional vocals on the song "Satyameva Jayathe" from the international album SuperHeavy also 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 filmMonsoon 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 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 his early 20s. He currently performs across the globe singing in 12 languages and is associated with Sunidhi Chauhan's Live Bollywood music concerts. He is also currently featured in the worldwide Amazon Prime Original music show The Remix as one of the newer contemporary Indian playback singers and quirky live performers. Thomson launched his debut single, "People Ain't Things," in April 2014, a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning sound mixer Reuben Cohen and Deepak Palikonda. The track won prominent airtime on MTV Indies, VH1 India, 9XO, and Radio One. In 2015, Thomson, as RaagaTrippin, hosted the red carpet event at the Radio Mirchi Music Awards 2015 and also performed at the Global Indian Music Academy Awards 2015 with music director Pritam Chakraborty. As RaagaTrippin, he also performed at the Indian Premier League opening ceremony 2015 with music director Pritam Chakraborty. 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 favorably received and were 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. Thomson, who is also known as a trendsetter in fashion for his quirky style, funky hair-dos, and outlandish glasses, performed for Vogue Indias Women Empowerment initiative #VogueEmpower'' in 2014. He was the first Funk-R&B artist in Mumbai to curate Motown, R&B, funk, and soul music tribute concerts. He is reportedly collaborating with Indie funk band SPUNQX.
