Tom Odell - Tom Odell: singing didn't come 'naturally' to me

Tom Odell: singing didn't come 'naturally' to me

Tom Odell has admitted singing didn't come ''naturally'' to him.

The 22-year-old musician has scooped the BRITs Critics Choice award at this year's ceremony - which takes place in London on Wednesday (20.02.13) - and although he has been tipped for global success, Tom had to ''really work'' at his voice during his studies at Brighton Institute of Modern Music in Sussex, South East England.

He explained: ''Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it though, because I was writing songs and that was the most important thing to me.

''But I listen back to recordings now and I think ... But that's what's amazing. What seems like a long time since you were 18 ... It's amazing when you look back and see how far you've come in terms of your singing and your writing. But I did a lot of gigs when I first moved to Brighton. I did hundreds.''

Tom was discovered by singer songwriter Lily Allen and he loves the freedom and ''trust'' he has while being signed to her label - crediting her for putting the artists before her own needs.

He continued to Glamour magazine: ''One of the great things about Lily's label, and what I said to them, you know, 'I need some money to live and to record for nine months a year and write the album.' And that's what I did.

''I didn't really speak to them that much. And that's what's been great about Lily, she's just let me do my thing and she's not trying to give her opinion the whole time. She doesn't treat it like that. And that's why I think she set up the label - to try to put some trust back in the artist.''