Biography
Having built a lengthy career through relentless work, Tommy Blaize achieved his greatest visibility as the lead singer for the resident ensemble on the BBC hit Strictly Come Dancing precisely when he issued his first official solo album at age 54. Born March 5, 1963, and raised in Toxteth, Liverpool’s demanding working-class district, he absorbed soul music early and revealed prodigious skill as both vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. Still in elementary school, he turned professional at nine, crisscrossing northern England’s working men’s clubs with his siblings in the Blaize Brothers, a Jackson Five and Drifters tribute act. After completing his schooling he studied at music college while gigging on piano in bars, then moved to Ibiza and endured two straight years in a band that delivered four sets nightly, seven nights weekly—an ordeal he later cited as the forge that hardened him into a true professional. Session dates ensued with Joe Cocker, Craig David, Take That, Brian Eno, and Basement Jaxx, plus a world tour alongside Robbie Williams, before he joined the Strictly production in 2003 and performed live each Saturday for millions of viewers. Though most involved in the show’s resurgence expected it to fade quickly, he remained for fourteen years. Outside the program he kept a steady schedule of independent performances. In 2008 he independently released the little-heard calypso album Island in the Sun; three years later came Don’t Ya Love Life, an album of largely original soul-jazz material cut with his Strictly band. In 2017 he signed with Universal to record his official debut solo album, Life & Soul, lending his velvet pipes to favorite soul classics from the era of Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and Jackie Wilson.
Albums
