[ ClassicalX ] Rams fans clapping and cheering

Football fans can be notoriously unforgiving, so stepping out with only a microphone for protection in front of 30,000 at Pride Park for a solo singing performance would at best seem daunting.

But such a hit has 27-year-old Thomas Spencer Wortley proved with Rams supporters that Derby County have adopted him as their official tenor and he's also now been out "on loan" at Burton Albion where he also scored with home and visiting supporters.

"At Pride Park, the wall of sound that 30,000 people make is amazing," he says. "At Burton Albion, it's smaller so you can feel the fans. As I turned round each stand had a different character.

"The Morecambe fans were chanting 'who are you?' before I got on to the pitch but at the end they were all clapping. It's great. You never know what to expect. It's not a concert format. It's that unknown that makes it exciting. It gets the adrenaline going. I just concentrate on singing well and feeling the energy."

Thomas from the South Derbyshire village of Castle Gresley, got the singing bug as a small boy after landing a starring role in an am dram production.

"It all started when I auditioned for the role of Oliver! in a show at Burton's Brewhouse when I was eight," he says. "The director of that show became my singing teacher, I learned piano and violin and it went from there. I played a lot of football as well. I love my music and I love my football."

Like his dad, Thomas has been a lifelong Rams fan and so it seemed natural to want to perform at Pride Park.

"I called the club at the end of last season and I said I would love to sing at the ground," he says. "They went on to my website and listened to some tracks I had recorded and said they would love to have me."

So Thomas made the leap from the stands to the centre circle at the Charlton game at the back end of last season and gave fans a rousing rendition of the Rams anthem Steve Bloomer's Watching.

" I struck a good friendship with the club and staff," says Thomas. "Then the more we talked about, the more we thought it would be different and great if the club had an official singer who sang at 2.30pm before home games."

So now Thomas is the club's official tenor.

"It's fabulous for me walking on to the pitch of a team I have supported all my life and if people then enjoy me singing that's great," he says. "So Derby County said I could be an ambassador of the club and they gave me an official tie and I was part of the official photo shoot. It's overwhelming as Derby County means so much to me. I was more nervous standing next to Nigel Clough than of any stage. It's surreal really."

Thomas has his debut album, Credere, out this week.

It contains 12 song, three written by his brother Oliver, who also arranged the album and who helped Thomas set up their own label to release the CD.

"I have been compared to people like Il Divo, Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli," says Thomas.

" That is fantastic. I just want to be myself, not to compete with anybody and to be honest.

"But I would love to have a lifelong career in being a solo artist, performing a huge array of music.

"My brother has already started on future songs. Doing our own music our own way, getting it out there – that's the dream."

Thomas is hoping that Credere will be a big hit in the classical charts and he will be giving Derby shoppers a taste of his music by performing in St Peter's Street at selected times today and tomorrow.

He will also perform at the annual Darley Park Concert on Sunday, September 6.

The annual outdoor free concert with Derby-based orchestra Sinfonia Viva attracts nearly as many people as a Rams home match and is another thrill for Thomas

"I will sing Steve Bloomer's Watching to open the concert," he says.

"I think Rammy will be on the stage with me but I don't think it's going to be a duet!!"

Credere by Thomas Spencer Wortley is out now on CD and can be bought from HMV in Derby, from internet retailers Amazon and Play.com and can be downloaded from iTunes.

Source: This is Derbyshire