Tom Odell

When you win a BRIT Critics Choice award and The Rolling Stones and Billy Joel call on you to open shows for them, that’s pretty darned cool.    

Paradigm’s Marty Diamond, Odell’s North American agent, was sold early on. Lily Allen, another Diamond client, is an early champion who signed Odell to her In The Name Of label.

Odell, who just turned 23, was picked to open for The Rolling Stones in London last summer.  Stateside, he’s got three headline tours under his belt and is booked to open at least six shows for Joel – including two at Madison Square Garden – in January and February.

“I’d love to take credit for it, but it came from Billy Joel and Dennis Arfa,” Diamond told Pollstar. “They made the inquiry. Obviously, the Billy Joel show will introduce him to a different crowd. But I think it’s a really good and big look.”

What fans will get is a rock ’n’ roll show. “It’s him and a full band, not just a guy behind the piano,” Diamond explained. “He plays behind an upright and rocks hard. It’s very much an emotional, spirited, rock ’n’ roll show.”

Diamond is busy booking shows around the Billy Joel dates, looking at major festival plays in April and May, as well as other fests and headliners. “He is dedicated to breaking in this country,” Diamond said.