And the Hello there and welcome to episode 159 of sody Jaker on songwriting.

Joining us today is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer,

best known as lead vocalist for those fondly regarded purveyors of smart,

sophisticated, yet insanely catchy synth pop Thompson Twins.

In the summer of July 2018 he released what was remarkably his first ever solo album under his own name,

the self-produced crowd-funded science fiction.

We're chuffed to welcome to the show The Brilliant Tom Bailey.

I've always had the soft spot for Thompson Twins.

Yeah, I think they're incredibly underrated actually.

Me too, and they were part of the soundtrack to our childhood.

Weren't they grown up in the 80s?

They were, yeah, I mean, it feels like they were on top of the pops every week pretty much.

Yeah, and they were very striking visually as well as having those hooky songs.

Yeah I wonder if that really strong image that they had sort of detracted from the quality of the songwriting?

Yeah, very possibly, because it was such a strong image,

but they had so many great songs, I mean, love on our side,

we are Detective, hold me now.

The list just goes on and on, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah and the albums are well worth

to discover and too. Tom was born in 1956 in Halifax Yorkshire and grew up in Chesterfield.

He was surrounded by classical music as a child, began piano around the age of seven,

and joined the church choir when he was around nine. He also took clarinet lessons and later picked up the

guitar and eventually became a music teacher at a comprehensive school in Sheffield.

...