He will be performing with  Elton John at the Royal Albert Hall, London on 22 September  2009, also with perfromances in France, Italy and Russia amongst others.

Sir Elton John, is reportedly a very big fan of Teddy’s work.

Teddy Thompson, son of folk-rock legends Richard and Linda Thompson, developed his musical drive at an early age and launched his first band while still in his early teens.

“A Piece of What You Need”, his fourth album, is a landmark for an artist whose creative restlessness continues to yield deeply compelling musical results. Thompson’s sense of purpose and sense of humor are reflected in the song title that provides the album’s name.

“The song was born from frustration with the state of music,” he explains adding “I knew that I wanted this one to be more adventurous, with strong, solid rhythm tracks and beautiful airy touches to support the songs.”

“I liked it as an album title because I thought it sounded like an offering, like this record is a small bit of truth. For most people, it’s gonna be an absolutely miniscule piece of what they need. But I’d like to think that I’m contributing some tiny little building block of something worthwhile, rather than just adding to the massive pile of disposable rubbish,” says Teddy Thompson.

To find out more, check out Teddy Thompson’s channel and exclusive interviews here on t5m.

This will be Marianne’s 22nd album – and she invited Teddy, the son of her good friends Richard and Linda Thompson of Fairport Convention, alongside Smokey Robinson, Keith Richards and t5m favourite Rufus Wainwright.

The album hits stores on March 17.

Teddy’s new album, A Piece of What You Need, has been getting rave reviews and many think it is his best work to date. Produced by super-producer Marius de Vries, it’s a tour de force of song-writing at its best. It went into the UK album chart at no.10 and the first single ‘In My Arms’ is an upbeat swinger not to be missed.

‘My parents are musicians but it wasn’t really a musical household, it wasn’t that sort of environment. We didn’t all sit round and sing songs together! I was probably 18 or 19 when I started really getting into music.’

He thinks it is a combination of both nature and nurture that led him to pursue a musical career, a perseverance that has clearly paid off. However, Thompson remains modest.

‘I think I have a little bit of talent but I don’t think of myself that highly. I only really believed it when someone gave me a record deal…and I’m still not sure about it.’

When it comes to writing songs, he tells t5m that if you don’t have anything worthwhile or inspirational to say then maybe you just shouldn’t write anything. ‘I’m not going to write something rubbish just for the sake of it’. At the end of the day, the one thing that is vital for him is that it comes from the heart.

Hannah Berry

When it comes to looking dapper, Thompson is not one to let the side down, ‘…the Dior silhouette is very beautiful’. It seems that Thompson is on the right style track but no life story is complete without at least one fashion faux pas and his was a jacket made from vintage kimonos purchased in Japan. ‘a. I failed to really do the price conversion and b. I really failed to care what the jacket looked like on me, so it was like £1,000 or something and when I got it home…I was like “Oh no!”. I never once wore it out of the house. It was a complete waste of money.’

He also lists Paul Smith, Ksubi and APC as brands he likes to wear, and is partial to a bit of B Store and the odd vintage piece too to compliment his dream vintage Mercedes.

And his style icon? Cary Grant, of course, though he admits the trouser style might be somewhat dated.

Hannah Berry

When it comes to technology, Teddy Thompson is just like the rest of it – he’s permanently glued to his MacBook. ‘It’s always on…I’m hooked on that…I’m not sure if it’s made my life easier but I’m addicted to it.’ He’s yet another ambassador flying the flag for Mr Jobs but, more bizarrely, he questions the affect it may be having on his ’swimmers’.

Hannah Berry

Thompson touches on his more current literary fancies and acknowledges that he can’t resist a good story and an author who likes to tell tales, like Ian McEwan. ‘I like stories, I like entertainment…I like a page turner.’

Hannah Berry

‘I really like to see…something that’s so beautifully done that it’s beyond me or most normal people…and there’s not many people that do that much anymore.’

That said, a Pollock exhibition at the Tate a couple of years ago didn’t fail to gain his interest – namely seeing the progression of his work from when he began his career as a young artist. It’s insights like these that help Thompson better understand the end, more avant-garde, product.

He goes on to list Andreas Gursky as one of his muses and though his paintings may sound mundane to describe (images of the stock market don’t exactly sound thrilling), in reality he finds them very inspirational. And it is comments like these that demonstrate Thompson’s colourful and outside-of-the-box tastes.

Hannah Berry

With a nonchalant air, Teddy describes his dream car, ‘I’d like a Mercedes, a 60s mercedes…saloon’. It seems he would choose a classic over a super car any day.

When it comes to girls he believes he is just not quick enough of the mark but he is quick enough to dumb himself down, ‘I’m not cool enough’. There are many who would disagree.

Hannah Berry

His previous album Upfront and Down Low was turned around much quicker. He started recording it ‘as a fun project’ in his spare time; ‘just to sort of stay happy, stay creative’. Teddy worked on a series of great country songs, which he re-worked with acclaimed string arranger Robert Kirby, best known (until now!) for his work with Nick Drake.

Teddy put his own spin on songs such as She Thinks I Still Care by George Jones and Dolly Parton’s My Blue Tears, and he describes it as an album that he’s very proud of. ‘I think it’s pretty great’, he says. A Piece of What You Need looks set to go the same way.