Thomson Andrews is a Pop R& B Singer-Songwriter, Bollywood Playback singer, and reality Tv star who has crooned songs in multiple languages. He started his career with Oscar and Grammy Winning Indian Composer AR RAHMAN and has sung additional vocals on the international album Superheavy featuring Joss Stone, Mick Jagger, and Damien Marley along with AR Rahman.
Thomson has performed in the USA doing 4 tours across 14 cities in America; entertaining Indian American audiences with his Bollywood singing performances along with Indian Music Icons Sunidhi Chauhan and Mohit Chauhan. Today he is known for his songs like ‘Rumani’ featuring Karthik Aryan and Nushrat Bharucha, ‘Sheher Mera’ featuring Abhay Deol, and even Ye Jawani Hain Deewani from SOTY 2. Thomson has worked on iconic TV and OTT reality shows like MTV Coke Studio, MTV Unplugged, Amazon Prime – The Remix, and as a talk show host on ‘Hungama Music Bus’. Thomson has also lent his voice to the Netflix Musical film Jingle Jangle and Christmas Chronicles, along with singing for Disney films like Alladin, The Lion King, Princess and the Frog, Frozen, Toy Story and is the voice of Gonger for the hit American children’s musical comedy puppet television series on Apple Tv. He was also a finalist of the Amazon Prime Music show THE REMIX, which gave him global recognition, followed by a stint for America Idol where he was hired to do a campaign to promote the singing show on ZeeCafe to Indian Audiences.
Thomson has recently lent his voice, singing for the Hindi version of the American show Waffles + Mochi, a children’s cooking streaming television series. Produced by Higher Ground Productions with Michelle Obama as executive producer,[1] it was released on Netflix on March 16, 2021. Former first lady Michelle Obama is joined by puppet pals to discover, cook and eat foods from around the world.
Since your Debut in 2010, you have reached superstardom in India and globally among Indian audiences and on social media. Share your greatest moments.
There have been many great moments for me during my entire career of mere 14 years in the industry. Firstly, I was studying science as my major in college as I wanted to become a doctor, growing up. Music was an inherent part of my upbringing with singing in choirs at church for holy mass. Being raised a Roman Catholic, singing gospel music at home was always a norm during our family prayer sessions. However, when I turned 16, my very first milestone was when I won the first place singing in a city-wide Gospel talent competition, which gave me the confidence and courage to explore my singing abilities onstage like never before. Soon my next big moment was when I got to perform with Grammy & Oscar winning Composer Maestro AR RAHMAN onstage at an Indian Award show. Post this I knew I was meant for something larger in life and my journey as a professional artist had begun; wherein I was hired to sing for all the top music composers on the Indian music Industry and I still continue to work with all of them till date. Soon people started watching me on TV being featured as a singer and vocal arranger on India’s top music show MTV Cokestudio and MTV Unplugged for several seasons. Following this I sang on several Hollywood projects via composer AR RAHMAN like Oscar nominated film 127 hours, International Music Album ‘SuperHeavy’ featuring Joss Stone, Mick Jagger, Damien Marley. In 2014 I started touring in America with India’s Iconic Bollywood Singers and performed in 14 cities in America, which was the greatest moment of starting my international concert experience. Following my 1st tour, I stayed back in Los Angeles and worked with a few of my director DOP friends who had worked with Clint Eastwood on few films, and these friends helped me shoot my very first American music video in LA called ‘I GOT YOUR MONEY’, which was executive produced by me, filmed around Beverly hills, the iconic Hollywood sign, Melrose Avenue, Rodeo Drive and Venice beach. Little did I know that the styling team who helped me on this shoot had also styled the likes of Beyonce, Jason Derulo, Lady Gaga and many such iconic American superstar singers and this song was mixed by Grammy winning Indian sound engineer Deepak Palikonda, hence it was something out of the world for me. Post that my next experience was when I sobbed like a baby watching the The Lion King live musical at Broadway in NYC, a dream come true. After this, God truly blessed me with tours in 15 countries, traveling the world and singing my heart out to Indian audiences globally. My recent greatest moments have been promoting the show American Idol on Indian television network Zeecafe as a celebrity singer, hosting a music travel tv show in India with the biggest music icons and my stint on the hit Music Reality series on Amazon Prime – THE REMIX.
Which collaborations have you enjoyed the most?
I have mostly loved collaborations with music producers the most, as I love the way they explore my singing styles in their compositions and each time I work with a new producer, I learn so much more about myself and how versatile yet definitive in my singing style and personality I am as a musician and singer songwriter. It gives my music a path to grow sonically, embrace change and evolve musically with the times and what’s current, staying true to myself with a new thought and sound.
What does it take to be successful in entertainment?
In simple words, immense patience combined with talent, professionalism, discipline, performing with excellence in all projects you are assigned to work on-be it live events, studio sessions or your own music. A combination of all the above and also my sheer drive, determination, passion for music and a positive attitude towards everything in life make a career choice in entertainment a success for those who chose this path. It definitely has its ups and downs and challenges as any industry, however I love turning challenges into opportunities and I choose to work with an optimistic approach in everything I do, giving praise to God for the success and opportunities he blesses me with via my industry seniors, mentors and colleagues. Having a clear vision for your career and embracing your strengths and weaknesses will help you reach where you are heading, a strategy on how you wanna get there, supported with a plan to put into action with a daily contribution of your time towards that vision/goal you wish to achieve. There are times during the year when work is on a slump for the entire event industry and live shows don’t happen much however, at such times I’ve chosen to focus my time more on upskilling my craft for the upcoming live event season, work on new song arrangements with my band, explore new music production and composition insights and create more original music, while focusing on my studio sessions for films, advertising projects and singles. I pretty much keep myself busy round the clock, though also ensure to spend quality time with the people I love and enjoy my weekends, unwind with family and friends, which keeps me sane and is extremely essential to create a work-life balance as I am true workaholic at heart. Whether there is a project that is hiring me or not, I keep creating, learning, networking, improving as an artist and this keeps me on the move, active, creatively driven and positively motivated to focus on growth and work every day on my end vision for myself. My wife is a brilliant pianist and musician herself and I am truly blessed to have a life partner who is an artist and understands the creative headspace, and she is my biggest motivator, supporter and critic of my work and pushes me to chase my dreams and follow my passion, full throttle. Hence, I owe my success to God, my family and my well wishers and having the right support system is also a must to succeed.
Recently you lent your voice, singing for the Hindi version of the American show Waffles + Mochi, a children’s cooking streaming television series. Produced by Higher Ground Productions with Michelle Obama as executive producer,[1] How did this project evolve?
Well I have been singing for Netflix’s several Hollywood films since a few years, and have had the privilege to be voice cast in the Hindi version of the Netflix film ‘Jingle Jangle’, where I sang for Keegan-Michael Key‘s character Gustafson; voicing his solo song ‘Magic Man G’ in Hindi. Ive also sung on Christmas Chronicles 2 and a children’s web series Centaur World seasons 1 & 2 besides singing for Hindi versions of popular Disney films like Alladin, The Lion King, Frozen, Princess and the frog, Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Beauty and the Beast. Recently, I got chosen by Seasoned Voice Casting supervisor Sunayana Sarkar for the Hindi version of the American show Waffles + Mochi, as she has cast me in several of the above mentioned projects which were supervised by her. It was absolute fun working on the show Waffles + Mochi; the music, the songs, the characters and the adorable concept of the show itself is so awesome. Besides all these factors, the best and extremely overwhelming part is that this project is produced by by all time Idols Michelle and Barack Obama!. When I started dubbing for it and was called in for my first session to sing for the show Waffles + Mochi in Hindi, I had no clue about this; though the moment I realized, I was simply speechless as its been a dream come true for me to even be distantly associated on a project executive produced by the ever graceful and inspiring former first lady Michelle Obama and my favorite former US president Mr. Barack Obama. My wife, my family and friends are extremely proud and happy for me, and I am super grateful to God for his miracles and blessings in my life as an artist. I thank my mentors and industry colleagues for always believing in my talents and giving me such brilliant opportunities and projects to be part of as a singer and artist.
Tell us about your current projects.
I am singing for a few big upcoming projects with Netflix and Disney, which he cannot talk much about until announced. On the Television side of things, I was approached for India’s biggest reality TV show BigBoss 16 with Salman Khan, however, I won’t be able to commit dates due to prior work commitments and personal events that clash with BB16 dates and schedules. I am due to release 3 of my international pop singles in English and 2 singles in Hindi, besides which I have a collaboration with Snoopdogg along with other artists on the single coming up soon. I also have diversified my career as an entrepreneur in the entertainment industry since 2016 via my own production house named ‘Throan Of Art’, which is into Audio Video production, Marketing and Publicity In India and have launched my own record label named ‘Throan Of Art Music’ in 2019.
FMM: Where can we see you this holiday?
I plan to relax this holiday in Goa, India as it’s so serene and I love a beach stay. The chill vibe and laid back life of Goa is a breath of fresh air from the hustle and fast paced life in Mumbai. My wife is a pianist, and it truly is a blessing to have a life partner who is an artist and understands the creative headspace, which makes my life each day as good as a vacation as we work on our own terms and everything in our lives is musically and creatively fueled and driven.
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