Tom Ball feels “privileged” that Gary Barlow wrote a song for his debut album, ‘Curtain Call’.
The 26-year-old singer – who has competed on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ and ‘America’s Got Talent: All Stars’– had the honour of having the Take That legend co-write his tune ‘Winter Song’ with record producer Eliot Kennedy.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: “The song written by Gary – ‘Winter Song’ is a stunning song that I am so privileged to be able to sing and bring to life.
“When Gary and Eliot first offered me that song, they told me that they were waiting for the right voice, and I’m so honoured to be that voice and to work with them.”
Tom revealed he had a “real scatter-gun” of inspirations for his album, including musical theatre star Michael Ball, ‘Surprise Yourself’ hitmaker Jack Garrett and songwriter Joe Stilgoe.
He said: “It’s a real mixture. You’ve got the people like Michael Ball, who was a massive influence on me when I was growing up [watching ‘Les Miserables’] and musical theatre.
“And then you’ve got people like Joe Stilgoe and Jack Garrett – people that I listen to now and listen to their albums [which] I love.”
The performer then disclosed the biggest challenge in making the album was narrowing the number of songs down to just 10 tracks.
He said: “We had so many options that could have ended up in the album, and making sure that we are 100 per cent happy with every song that is in there, and getting it to sound the right way so that it feels like a complete body of work, and not just 10 songs thrown onto an album.
“While that was probably the biggest challenge, that is actually of the things I’m most proud of. It’s got that through-line, it’s got that consistency across the whole album.”
The ‘Best Part’ singer then explained he wanted to capture a “cinematic” feel with his album, while retaining a “feel-good, positivity”.
He said: “The message moves and changes. If there’s a theme for the whole album, it is cinematic, because every song is in there – whether it’s originally meant to be like that or something that we’ve added and changed and made it our own.
“It’s got that cinematic, movie feel, and that’s what I’m really, really proud of. [They are] quite epic sounding songs and feel-good.
“Most of the album – not all – is just a feel-good, positivity.”
Looking to the future, Tom revealed he’s hoping to collaborate with Grammy winner Gregory Porter and hailed the fusion jazz singer as a “sensational” performer.
He said: “He always comes to my mind because I love his music and I’d love to do a duet with him and that’s Gregory Porter.
“I think he is a sensational jazz singer and I’d love to do a duet with him.
“And then you’ve got lots of other artists – whether that be [in] musical theatre or pop that I love and I’d love the opportunity to meet.
“But I think in terms of like working with, Gregory would be up there.”
Tom’s debut album, ‘Curtain Call’, is released May 24.