ASPIRING CANADIAN WRITERS CONTESTS

2014 SINGER-SONGWRITER MENTOR EXPERIENCE

  Preliminary Judge ~ Theo Tams

Fun should be the chief component in anyone’s life: smiles, laughter, jokes, a general bounce in every step you take.

But until recently for Theo Tams – pop singer, songwriter, international performer and Gemini Award-nominated final Canadian Idol champion (class of 2008) – it was the one element missing from his life.

“I tend to be quite serious and intense,” Tams admits on the eve of his upcoming six-song EP, the follow-up to his 2009 debut album, Give It All Away. “But I feel my new music sounds younger and is more fun than anything I’ve done before.”

You can hear it in his ebullient and electrifying self-penned pop songs: whether it’s the piano-driven romance of the energetic “Stay”; the entertaining “Steal Your Love Away”; or the pining “When You’re Not Around” - it’s a live wire sound that seems to boast an extra spark or two.

“I’ve learned to have fun, enjoy the ride, the journey and not take things so seriously,” confesses Tams, who is signed to EMI Music Publishing and a development deal with Slaight Music.

“And I think that’s really reflected in my new music. There are still those really intense ballads that’s a huge part of the music that I make, but I’ve also have thrown myself into a different sound and just kind of let go.”

Prior to Canadian Idol, Tams, who plays trumpet and piano, lived in the Lethbridge suburb of Coaldale, (population 7493), and a strict, religious household, where he taught himself to write songs. “I think that writing just became my v0ice,” he admits. “I tended to write about everything, the majority of my songs from personal experience.”

Influenced by Sarah McLachlan, Jann Arden and the team of Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, Tams – who scored a No. 1 AC hit  here with Ali Slaight for their charity duet “Do You Hear What I Hear?” –is ready to introduce Theo 2.0.

“I’m much more aware of who I am not only as an artist, but as a person, and I feel that this music is the best I’ve ever created. I’m eager to share it with the rest of the world.”

Photo and biography appear with the permission of Theo Tams