The Pink Spotlight on Theo Tams

Theo Tams (born 12 July 1985) is a Canadian singer and the winner of the sixth season of the CTV reality show Canadian Idol. His debut album, Give It All Away, was released on 19 May 2009 by Sony Music Canada.

Tams grew up in Coaldale, Alberta, and he attended Immanuel Christian High School in Lethbridge. Tams played trumpet in high school, and is self-taught on piano. Interested in music from a young age the self-taught piano player admits “I never thought music could be a career until high school when a few very inspirational teachers taught me that I could pursue music for a lifetime. After high school Theo went on to study music at the University of Lethbridge where he was doing a double major in Psychology and Classical Music. With a constant thirst to further his musical abilities, Theo claims “I’m currently learning to play guitar and it’s also my goal to learn the cello.”

Before Idol, he was a student at the University of Lethbridge, studying classical music and psychology. He is taking a leave from his studies to pursue a music career.

Tams released the EP Unexpected in 2005.
At his audition for Canadian Idol in February 2008, Tams drew laughs from the judges as he demonstrated evidence of his anxiety-related perspiration, having soaked through his shirt.

Tams most often performed while playing piano. His performances included "Apologize" by OneRepublic, "Collide" by Howie Day, Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry", and Jann Arden's "Good Mother". Idol judge Zack Werner described Tams' performance of Bryan Adams' "Heaven" as "one of the top two or three performances in the history of the show."

He won Canadian Idol on September 10th, 2008. He was announced Canadian Idol after singing three songs on the final performance show that included "Sing" (released to radio and digital download on 11 September 2008), which was the winner's single chosen for him. The runner-up, Nova Scotia carpenter Mitch MacDonald, performed a different song as his own potential winner's single, the first time this has been done on Canadian Idol.

Although the Idol winner's first album usually is released about two months after the show's finale, Tams had much longer to prepare his. Tams said he appreciated the longer time, and hoped to have some songs he wrote himself included on the album.

Tams came out as gay during the show's run by referring to a male partner during one of his post-performance interviews. This made him the first openly gay performer to win an Idol series in North America. He subsequently endorsed Adam Lambert in the 2009 edition of American Idol, and included a gay couple in the video for his single "Lazy Lovers".

Theo really enjoys is attending Lethbridge's GALA dances with his boyfriend (not the ex he mentioned on the show). GALA dances for those who don't know are the bi-weekly gay and lesbian dances. Theo also likes attending the pride events in Calgary and is a semi regular attending member of his school's LGBT meeting group. Aside from that he is very focused on his music career and doesn't go out a lot but prefers to stay home.

On 17 March 2009, his first single from his album was released, "Lazy Lovers", written by Tams, Hawksley Workman, and Greg Johnston.

His debut album, Give It All Away, was released on 19 May 2009. It features seven songs he co-wrote, which is more than any previous "Idol". Writing collaborators on the album include Simon Wilcox, Hawksley Workman, Sarah Slean, and Damhnait Doyle. He is currently touring across Canada.

*Wikipedia
*Official Website: http://www.theotams.com