Singer/songwriter Tom Walker’s eureka moment came early. After his father took him to see AC/DC at age nine, he started campaigning for a guitar, and he eventually mastered a multitude of instruments while learning to sing and compose. Throughout his childhood, his dad took him to see rock, pop, blues, jazz and classical concerts, fomenting Walker’s eclectic approach to music. Born in Kilsyth, Scotland, in 1991 but raised in the Cheshire town of Knutsford, he became inspired by Ed Sheeran’s one-man folk-pop forays while attending the London College of Creative Media. After a period of busking and banging on music-biz doors, he began releasing a string of singles through Relentless/Sony in 2016, establishing his blend of folk, pop and soul influences and his way with an intense, emotion-soaked ballad. But he didn’t connect commercially until 2017’s “Leave a Light On” exploded across Europe and earned him platinum status in several countries. The next year, “Just You and I” became an even bigger hit, and by the time both songs showed up on Walker’s 2019 debut album, What a Time to Be Alive, it was clear he was the next big troubadour. Walker’s win for Best Breakthrough Act at that year’s Brit Awards drove the point home even further.