YV 2025 Special Guest Artists

Recently Jacob headlined Young Voices' 30-date nationwide arena tour with nearly 250k primary school children taking part. He was such a huge hit with parents, teachers and kids alike, that they've asked for him to come back again for next year's tour! He has also just completed his first solo nationwide tour & signed a 3 book publishing deal with Simon & Schuster.

Jacob has been kicking up a storm on social media, thanks to his incredible raps of popular children's books. With each post reaching and engaging millions of people, it's showing no sign of stopping! From Holly Willoughby and Michael Rosen to Dawn French, Davina McCall and Dannii Minogue all sharing and liking his content, they're helping to showcase the power of mixing music with the magic of books.

You'll also recognise Jacob from ‘MC Grammar’s Wonder Raps’ and 'Rap Tales' on Sky Kids. Set to ear-worm tunes, MC Grammar’s fun comedic raps, help kids learn by stealth. The first series was released in October 2021, and before it aired the second series was already commissioned!

One of Jacob's proudest achievements is being the Global Ambassador for World Book Day and he has written three official songs for them. He’s reaching a global audience every day through YouTube, YouTube Kids and his own social media channels.

Jacob has worked as an educational consultant and created and sold many of his own resources to schools. These are currently supporting 500 schools across 12 countries, reaching thousands of kids every day.

Jacob’s been featured on Sky News, The Daily Mail, Capital FM, BBC News, Heart FM, BBC Radio, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Made for Mums, Talk Radio Europe, alongside This Morning, BBC Breakfast and The Ellen Show!

Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, Twitter - @MrMCGrammar

“I thought it was a fad,” Tommy cheerfully admits of the TV show he joined for its pilot episode in 2004. “Then when we were doing the third series, I thought, yeah, the country has taken this on. And what a gig!” he marvels in his appropriately melodious Scouse accent. “It’s the only gig on telly on Saturday night with a band that actually goes out live as it happens every week. And to do that with a selection of the very best musicians in the country and another three amazing singers – I feel like the luckiest geezer around.

“And here we are now,” notes this seasoned performer who learns 14 or 15 new songs each week, often of different genres, and delivers them note perfect every time, “on series 21. Incredible.” In a career spanning a remarkable 50 years, Tommy has worked with some of the world’s most legendary and renowned artists, from Diana Ross to Queen; The Beach Boys to Amy Winehouse; Joe Cocker to Stevie Wonder. The list is as long as it is impressive.

Tommy began his singing career at the tender age of nine with ‘The Blaize Brothers’ alongside siblings Tony and Darrin. Long before he’d even left primary school he was out on the road touring the clubs of the northwest, as far north as the Lake District, as far west as Wales, “melting old people’s hearts” with a Jackson 5/Drifters soul revue. “It was great fun and great grounding,” remembers an all rounder who can sing and play guitar, piano and pretty much anything else he lays his fingers on. “That’s when I knew I loved it. And when I knew music was what I wanted to do.”

An accidental foray into the world of proper jobs – sandblasting lorries – lasted a mercifully brief time before music college and twice-a-day gigs in a piano bar beckoned. Then Tommy was off to Ibiza. “I worked with a band, seven nights a week, four sets a night, the last set at four in the morning. That was hardcore for two years! That built the muscle up and turned me into a full-on performer. I learnt that skill to keep it going all the time, which has been useful on 15 seasons of Strictly.” Back in the UK, he moved to London, “To supplement my stay in London I started doing sessions: Craig David, Lewis Taylor, David McAlmont, Take That, Basement Jaxx, Brian Eno, Incognito…and many more. I was a keyboard player, backing vocalist, MD...  “And that,” he shrugs, “was it: the word got around. Every week there would be a different person ringing me to come do some studio work or anything. It just snowballed.” Not half. Tommy ended up working with them all. Among myriad other engagements, he was part of the band at the London and New York concerts to honour Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, which meant performing with the likes of Queen, Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder. He was asked by Rod Stewart to come play at his wedding (well, one of them) and he was invited on to a world tour by Robbie Williams after a chance meeting when he performed on Strictly.

“I got the call to come and do the Swings Both Ways tour – duets, backing vocals, playing piano and bit of mandolin. And that was a year-long, round-the-world tour, everything from a concert in the mountains of Austria performing in freezing snow in front of 40,000 people to the Singapore Grand Prix for 70,000 people in torrential rain. A lovely bloke and a brilliant time all round.” An artist album was an obvious next step. Universal Music offered Tommy the chance to make his debut solo record. He already had a band, a core of musicians who play with him both on Strictly and at his own regular jazz club shows. And he already had a musical sweet spot: the soul and R&B classics that Tommy heard at his parents’ knees and which had him performing live from the age of nine.

Tommy released his debut solo album ‘Life & Soul’ in December 2017 through Universal, topping both the Amazon and iTunes pre-order chart and spending two weeks in the UK top 40 in the leadup to Christmas. Now a regular on the London soul and blues scene, Tommy performs with his band at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, the Jazz Café and the 606 Club, and as a regular guest artist at special events at Royal Albert Hall, The Southbank Centre, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, International Eisteddfod among many others.

In 2023, Tommy joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra for a special UK tour celebrating the music and life of Ray Charles. ‘It gave me the bug to be out on the road, it was a wonderful experience, and I didn’t want it to end’ says Tommy.

And so now Tommy, 50 years after his live debut, is about to step out on his first-ever solo tour. With a massive 51 dates booked between March and June 2024.

‘It’s a celebration of everything that’s happened in my career until now’, he explains. Expect some Strictly, expect some soul, some blues, some of the music that inspired me as a child, some of the artists I’ve worked with, and of course… expect some stories. I have a few of those.’ Tommy beams with his trademark cheeky smile.

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Souparnika began singing at a very young age and started performing solo concerts at the age of 7 at local music festivals. Her exceptional musical abilities were well recognised through many awards and titles she gained for her singing. Her first performance on broadcast media became a reality at the age of 9, when she performed one of her favourite songs Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” live on BBC Radio Suffolk. Shortly after this, she made her debut Television appearance in BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Big Show at the age of 9 when she became the “Youngest ever Unexpected star to have appeared on the show”. She did a spellbinding rendition of the song “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Misérables, which was received with a standing ovation at the London Palladium.

Souparnika has also performed on various other television programmes including ITV’s Christmas Spectacular 2020, and CBBC Blue Peter Children in Need show and was featured on multiple broadcasting media including BBC Radio, BBC Radio Suffolk, and radio stations abroad.

Sou debuted in musical theatre with one of the lead roles- “Tomika” in the “School of Rock” UK Tour and she has earned fantastic reviews for her performances on the shows. She also was fortunate enough to perform in front of Sir Brian May which she cherishes out of all her performances, being a great fan of “Queen”.

She loves to listen to Cilla Black, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Patsy Cline, Shirley Bassey, Celine Dion, Adele and Christina Aguilera to name a few. Souparnika also has a great passion for acting and is very keen in reading books in which historical fiction is her favourite genre. Sou also has an active social media presence, and her YouTube channel has received over 10 million views with around 100k subscribers.

Sou has been writing and recording songs recently and her single “Unbreakable”, released in October 2023, has been featured on BBC Music Introducing.