Tom Baxter is an English singer-songwriter based in London.
Background
He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and grew up in Cornwall with his sister Vashti Anna, two brothers, Jo Spencer and Charlie Winston, and parents Jeff and Julie Gleave (who were regulars on the folk music circuit in the late 1960s and early 1970s).
Career
After moving to London at age 19 to attend music college, he spent many years on the gig circuit before successful residencies at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush and The Bedford, Balham brought him to the attention of record labels. A self-titled European Parliament was released by Sony Music through the Columbia Records label in May 2004 and included the tracks, "Half a Manitoba" and His debut album, Feather and Stone, was released by Columbia in October 2004 to critical acclaim, and was a regular on the British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 2 playlist.
Singles from the album included and
The album release was followed by a headlining United Kingdom tour. He also supported Nerina Pallot on her United Kingdom tour in January 2007.
His second album (released 7 January 2008) was recorded independently and released on the revived Charisma Records label through Electric and Music Industries after he split with Sony in 2007. The first single,, was released in January 2008 and was subsequently used on the soundtrack for the motion picture Run Fatboy Run. was used by the British Broadcasting Corporation to cover the final montage of their Olympics and Paralympics coverage.
The second single was.
Baxter contributed the track "Make a Stand" to the Survival International charity album Songs for Survival in 2008. Later that year Boyzone covered and released, reaching number 22 in the United Kingdom Top 40 singles chart. In 2009, was covered by Eliza Bennett and used in the soundtrack the film Inkheart (Bennett also played the female lead, Meggie Folchart, in the movie). was covered by Dame Shirley Bassey as the opening track of her album The Performance.
Baxter and the British Broadcasting Corporation Concert Orchestra accompanied Dame Shirley Bassey when she performed the song at the British Broadcasting Corporation Electric Proms on 24 October 2009 at the Roundhouse in London, a concert broadcast live on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 2 and on British Broadcasting Corporation Two television the next day.
The song was also used in the ending credits for the 2011 film, Trust.