Thom says sorry to music pioneer

Published on Saturday 14 February 2009 18:43

SCOTTISH star Sandi Thom has been left singing the blues after offending a musical great.

The Banff pop star has issued a public apology after upsetting the award-winning musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney.

The musical pioneer, who has collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney and Sting, phoned to remonstrate with the vocalist after she made what he believed to be a derogatory comment about him.

In an interview Thom spoke about her forthcoming album and revealed it was influenced by world music, but qualified the statement by adding: "I'm not going to come back sounding like Nitin Sawhney."

The Mercury Award nominee and Mobo winner took offence and called the Scot to tell her so. This prompted Thom to issue a statement on her website where she apologised and claimed her remark had been misunderstood.

She said: "Unfortunately I seem to have upset Nitin as he has been in direct contact with me, but I have assured him that I have nothing but adoration for what he does and that I have always been a massive fan.

"It was just one of those unfortunate examples of a sentence coming out all wrong."

A spokeswoman for Sawhney said the musician would not be commenting.

The Macduff singer recently carried out a duet with First Minister Alex Salmond. The pair sang the Dougie MacLean song 'Caledonia' at a government-backed tour to promote the Homecoming celebrations. And last month it emerged that Salmond sent a copy of Thom's album Pink And The Lily as a gift to Sir Sean Connery.

Her nationwide tour, featuring guest appearances from friends such as X Factor winner Leon Jackson, had a faltering start when her opening venue, Edinburgh's Liquid Rooms, burnt down. There were also claims, denied by Thom's management, that ticket sales had been poor.