Features🇧🇪 Belgium

🇧🇪 Beyond Eurovision: Tom Dice

Throwback to Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, Norway. Tom Dice wrote history for his country Belgium by reaching the grand final for the first time since the semis were introduced. With “Me And My Guitar” he conquered a lot of European hearts. As a result, he won his semi final and finished sixth in the grand final. This is to date the best result from Belgium on Flemish side. How is Tom Dice doing right now? You’ll discover it in this article.

A little background story

Tom Dice set his first steps in the music world back in 2009. Originally, he was part of a group called “The Dice”, which inspired him to wear the name “Tom Dice”. His solo adventure started at X Factor 2008-2009, in which he finished second. After his success there, he signed his very first solo contract with SonicAngel. A new young Belgian artist was born!

Tom Dice performing Bleeding Lights by Leona Lewis, which he later released as a single.

The road to Eurovision

Shortly after his X Factor-success, Tom Dice got approached by Flemish broadcaster VRT. The big question fell, “Do you want to represent Belgium at Eurovision 2010?” Tom Dice accepted, and so VRT chose its Eurovision candidate for the first time in an internal procedure. At first, Tom got a lot of criticism to digest, but that didn’t stop him. On 7 March 2010, he introduced “Me And My Guitar” to the audience. After a very first live performance, the Belgian audience got some critics ready again. This time, they didn’t seem to like the outfit he wore. Of course Tom Dice would wear something else in Oslo. Right before his Eurovision adventure was about to kick off, he released his debut album “Teardrops”.

Share The Moment in Oslo

Tom Dice’s first big moment took place on 25 May, the first semi final. There he wrote history. He passed Belgium through that semi final for the first time since the semi final’s introduction. Besides, he even won the first semi final! The success continued in the grand final. Tom received a lot of love from the audience in the arena and from around Europe. He finished 6th, which is the best result VRT has ever received.

Life after Eurovision success

After his adventure in Oslo, Tom replaced his focus on his debut album “Teardrops”, which came out one month before Eurovision. The success he achieved in Oslo helped him a lot in his real breakthrough in and outside Belgium. On 23 June 2010, Tom Dice gave his first big showcase abroad, in The Netherlands. Furthermore, European countries such as Austria, Switzerland and Germany showed interest in an international promotour. Later, also Scandinavia, France, United Kingdom, Ireland and Greece showed love to Tom aswell.

Tom released single after single. In March 2011, he got the honour to perform as support act of Taylor Swift during her tour in the low lands. In 2012, Tom got nominated for that year’s MIA-awards. He even got to perform one of his songs during the live awardshow. After his summer tour of 2013, Tom announced a break.

De bronafbeelding bekijken

Silent period between 2013 and 2018

This period was quite silent for Tom. However, in 2016 he released a new album “I’ve Come A Long Way”. One year later, Tom released another album “Better Days”. None of them knew huge success unfortunately.

The Starlings

In 2018, Tom Dice announced to have a relationship with Kato Callebaut. Kato finished second in the Belgian version of Idol in 2011. Apart from their love relationship, they also started a new band, so now Tom and Kato go through life as “The Starlings”. Their first single “Mine” came out in 2019. The big Belgian breakthrough happened thanks to tv-show “Liefde Voor Muziek”, in which artists cover each other’s hits. The Starlings revamped a famous song by Belgian kids band K3 and made Flanders fall in love with them.

In the mean time, the couple has released their debut album “Don’t Look Back”. The album includes brand new songs + the covers they did during “Liefde Voor Muziek”. The duo is doing really well in Belgium and even joined current Eurovision winner Duncan Laurence during his online concert.

Could The Starlings be a potential Belgian eurovision entry in the future? Time will tell, because they have showed interest in it already!

Enjoy “Don’t Con Back” on Spotify!

https://open.spotify.com/album/3O3hDzjLlty2uqPRZsvPCd?si=YqpoVR6OQ1aLZbj7oqPf4Q

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