The late Tom Parker recalled the heartbreaking childhood moments that led him to seek a life in the limelight in his upcoming memoir Hope: My Inspirational Life.
The Wanted star, who died at the age of 33 on March 30 following a battle with brain cancer, wrote that he suffered at the hands of cruel bullies who taunted him for his appearance and stole his backpack for days at a time.
Pop star Tom admitted he ‘learned the hard way that the key to a more fulfilling lifestyle is to just be yourself’ before he lost himself in music with his older brother Lewis as his tutor, before going on to unsuccessfully audition for The X Factor ahead of his rise to fame.
Honest: The late Tom Parker recalled the heartbreaking childhood moments that led him to seek a life in the limelight in his upcoming memoir Hope: My Inspirational Life (pictured 2013)
As serialised by The Sun, Tom said he loved to sing as a child but wrote: ‘In my first year I started wanting to fit in with the cool crowd. I began to hide parts of myself and stopped singing as much.
‘I learned the hard way that the key to a more fulfilling lifestyle is to just be yourself.
‘I had to put up with a lot of s**t in order to be accepted by the popular kids. It wasn’t overtly bullying, but a general toxicity.’
Childhood: The Wanted star, who died at the age of 33 on March 30 following a battle with brain cancer, wrote that he suffered at the hands of cruel bullies at school
He went on to say that he was teased because of his height, adding that the parka jacket he used to wear led to him being nicknamed after the character Saj from the 1999 film East Is East.
‘I literally wasn’t called Tom throughout the whole of my time at school,’ he added.
He continued: ‘The final straw came when my backpack full of GCSE work was stolen in Year 11, and it took me a week to get it back.
Struggles: Pop star Tom admitted he ‘learned the hard way that the key to a more fulfilling lifestyle is to just be yourself’ before he lost himself in music
‘By the time I discovered my notes all over the muddy cricket pitch, none of it was readable any more.’
Tom said he was unable to hold back his tears when his mother Noreen learned about what had happened.
As he got older, Tom’s brother Lewis, who is five years older, taught his sibling how to play his first chords on a guitar.
Taunts: He said was teased because of his height, adding that the parka jacket he used to wear led to him being nicknamed after the character Saj from the 1999 film East Is East
He went on to learn Wonderwall by Oasis which led to his passion for music and the performing arts.
At the age of 16, Tom decided to audition for The X Factor and travelled by train to Manchester to join the hoards of hopefuls outside the open auditions.
He wrote of his devastation at being given the boot in the very early stages of the competition, admitting he is grateful his rejection was never filmed.
Family: Tom said his mother Noreen couldn’t bring herself to believe he had really made it into a pop group until she held a copy of The Wanted’s first single All Time Low out in front of her
Tom stopped singing for six months but later entered a karaoke competition at The Swan pub in Bolton.
He walked away with the £1,000 prize after performing Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, using the cash to start growing cannabis.
The singer was spotted by a member of Take That II, a Leeds-based tribute act, and they signed him up to star as their Mark Owen.
Fame: Tom (centre) rose to prominence with The Wanted (L-R Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Tom, Max George and Jay McGuiness pictured in September 2021)
He said he was grateful to the band for giving him experience as performing in public as part of a group.
But it was while Tom was claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance in the summer of 2008 that he saw an advert by Jayne Collins Casting for an open audition for a pop group, an incident he insists was ‘fate’.
His friend Ali drove him to the audition in a Citroën Saxo full of ‘stolen petrol’ so he could take his chance along with 1,000 others at winning a place in the boyband that was being put together by Jayne, who had formed The Saturdays.
Sad: Tom died on March 30, leaving behind wife Kelsey and children Aurelia, three, and Bodhi, two
After travelling to London on a £1 bus ticket for a final audition, Tom made it to the final 12 and was later picked to be in the band, with the group looking at properties in the UK capital a month later to move in together.
Tom said his mother couldn’t bring herself to believe he had really made it into a pop group until she held a copy of The Wanted’s first single All Time Low out in front of her.
He said he ‘cried like a baby’ when the band reached the top spot on the charts with their debut single.
Tom died aged 33 on March 30 following a battle with brain cancer, when he was given just 12 months to live by doctors.
The singer was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma and went public with his diagnosis in October 2020.
He leaves behind wife Kelsey and children Aurelia, three, and Bodhi, two.
Hope: My Inspirational Life, by Tom Parker, will be published on May 26 by Blink Publishing.
