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Thomas Baxter Gleave (born 29 October 1973) is a British singer-songwriter based in London. He was born inIpswich, Suffolk, and grew up in Camborne,Cornwall, with his four siblings.
The second son of Jeff and Julie Gleave (who were regulars on the folk music circuit in the late 1960s and early 1970s). Baxter and his siblings use their middle names as stage surnames.
Baxter is the middle brother of Jo Spencer (the eldest), and his younger brotherCharlie Winston, a successful songwriter based in France. The youngest sibling Vashti Anna was named after singer-songwriterVashti Bunyan who is a family friend.
By age 15, Baxter had picked up the guitar and started a rockabilly band with his elder brother after hearing'The Elvis Sun Sessions'. He went on to attend art school at 17, specializing in Fine Art Painting. After moving to London at age 19 to attend music college to study a foundation course in Music & Performance at Brunel University, he graduated with a BA in Commercial Music at Westminster University.
During this period he spent much of his time on the gig circuit and later took up a series of successful residencies at Bush Hall in Shepherds Bush andThe Bedford, Balham which brought him to the attention of major record labels.
A self-titled EP was released bySony Music through theColumbia Records label in May 2004 and included the tracks "Joanna", "Half a Man" and "My Declaration".[1][2]
On 30 July 2004, Baxter released on Columbia Records to critical acclaim his 10-track debutalbum,Feather and Stone,[3] recorded atPeter Gabriel's Real World Studios.[4][5] Following the release the album became a regular on theBBC Radio 2 playlist. Singles from the album included "This Boy" and "My Declaration". The album release was followed by a headlining UK tour and entered the Official UK Charts Top 75 Albums in August 2004.[6][7][8][9] He also supportedNerina Pallot on her UK tour in January 2007. Prior to the album release Baxter was signed early on by Mike McCormack at Universal music publishing in 2003.[10][11] After the release of Feather & Stone. Baxter toured the UK & Ireland extensively off the back of a his Radio 2 success championed byTerry Wogan,Jonathon Ross and long time supporter Paul Kramer of theHit Sheet. During this time he was managed by Matt Racher, Billy Mcleod, Matthew Austin. Baxter did many headline shows but also supported acts including,David Grey,Damien Rice,Kt Tunstall,Katie Melua,The Beautiful South. In 2004 Baxter performed live on the Jonathon Ross Show singing "This Boy" directed by Ben & Joe Dempsy 2004.
In 2006, after parting ways with Sony. Baxter had the freedom, renewed confidence and artistic skills from his formative fine art training to pay for his next album by painting a large (3 ft x 3 ft) canvas for each of the ten 10 tracks on his next albumSkybound. Each print sold for £2000 with a hugely anticipated artwork sale at the former Richard Dennis Gallery in Notting Hill, London. In an interview with the Daily Mail[12] Baxter discusses how the musing of his artwork and music kept his perspective fresh and added more depth to his creativity. Now recognised not only as a gifted singer songwriter but a gifted painter, Baxter has been described as a multimedia role model. Online guitar tutorials and an 80-page hardback book ’Tales from the Forest of Hope’ with stories and illustrated artwork followed also helped to raise funds for his music.
On 4 June 2007, Baxter released the critically acclaimedalbum Skybound under his independent label Sylvan. The 10 track album recorded independently in just 5 days at a recording studio in Chelsea, earning the praise of reaching the Top 20 charts and hailed as Album of the Week. Released on the revivedCharisma Records label through a licensing deal withEMI[13] after he split with Sony early in 2007. The first single, "Better", was released in January 2008 and was subsequently used on the soundtrack for the motion pictureRun Fatboy Run.[14] "Miracle" was used by theBBC to cover the final montage of their Olympics and Paralympics coverage.[15] The second single was "Tell Her Today". Baxter contributed the track "Make a Stand" to theSurvival International charity albumSongs for Survival in 2008. Later that yearBoyzone covered and released "Better", reaching number 22 in theUK Singles Chart.[16][17]
In 2009, "My Declaration" was covered byEliza Bennett and used in the soundtrack the filmInkheart (Bennett also played the female lead, Meggie Folchart, in the movie). "Almost There" was covered byDame Shirley Bassey as the opening track of her albumThe Performance. Baxter and theBBC Concert Orchestra accompaniedDame Shirley Bassey when she performed the song at theBBC Electric Proms on 24 October 2009 at the Roundhouse in London, a concert broadcast live onBBC Radio 2 and onBBC Two television the next day. The song was also used in the ending credits for the 2010 film,Trust.[18]
Following Shirley Bassey's performance, Baxter was invited to stay withDanny Hillis, the inventor, and his wife Patti. He brought along his long time friend Oli Langford and budding producer Jimi Lundi to set up a recording studio in their converted orange grove. Along with Wolfgang Aichholz, who acted as co-producer with Jimi Lundi, they moved to LA for six months to create an album. Despite taking a year to make, the album was never fully released, with only three songs making it onto the "Golden" EP. Danny Hillis is speaking on the intro of "Dual" on the GOLDEN EP. Baxter ended his relationship with his long time publisher, Universal Publishing.
In 2011, the song "Light Me Up" from Baxter's album Skybound was used as the chosen music to summarise the highlights of the ITV coverage of the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.[2] The song "Better" from the album Skybound was also used a few years later as highlights of the ITV coverage of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.[3]
On 24 March 2017Take That released onPolydor Records the albumWonderland. Baxter is credited as the songwriter for the track ''Hope'' along with Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen.
After taking a break from releasing music, Baxter returned in 2018 with two acoustic albums: "The Other Side Of Blue" and "The Uncarved Block".
In 2021 Baxter was commissioned by ARTE France to score the music for a 4 part documentary series; ‘Wild Costa Rica, A Sanctuary of Biodiversity’ directed by Luis Miranda of Bamboo Productions and distributed byOff The Fence. The 4 part documentary series investigates the rich biodiversity of the country and discusses its ongoing influence on the rest of the world by way of an incredibly environmentally progressive outlook. Since 2014,Costa Rica sourced 98% of its energy from renewable sources, has reforested large amounts of degraded land and utilises strong constitutional rights such as the human right to a healthy environment to increase sustainability. The series was an international broadcast produced by the European TV channel ARTE.TV requiring an emotional, modern music score that could appeal to the most significant number of people.
Baxter performed at Night for Ukraine, a fundraising benefit held at theRoundhouse in northLondon on the evening of 9 March 2022, with the funds raised being donated to theDisasters Emergency Committee appeal, to provide aid to people fleeingUkraine following theRussian invasion. The event was organized byFabien Riggall in collaboration with the Ukrainian pop duoBloom Twins.[19]
Baxter is a co-composer withMagnus Fiennes for the upcoming sequel series of the British-French crime drama television series "Death in Paradise", titled "Beyond Paradise". The series is produced by Red Planet for BBC Worldwide, and is set to be released in March 2023.
The EP
Feather & Stone
Skybound
The Uncarved Block
The Other Side Of Blue
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