TMS are an English songwriting and record production team composed of Tom 'Froe' Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete 'Merf' Kelleher.[1] The trio have co-written records for a host of artists including Lewis Capaldi, Dua Lipa, John Legend, Maroon 5, G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha. They have collectively had twenty top 10 singles, sold over 15 million records, accumulated over 5 billion streams and have contributed to over fifty top 40 albums.[2][3] They co-wrote and produced Lewis Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" which spent seven consecutive weeks at number one and was the best selling single of 2019 in the UK.[4] The song was nominated for Song of the Year at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards[5] and won Song of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards.[6]
Early life
The members of TMS were all brought up in West London and met while at school. They began playing in local bands before building a studio in a garden shed.[7] After a long gestation period that included releasing records under the name "The Breakfastaz", they broke through in 2011 with two UK #1 records in the space of two months.[8]
For the UK Olympics in 2012, TMS had the honour of having their song "Read All About It" performed by Emeli Sandé open the Closing Ceremony, also known as "A Symphony Of British Music." The song featured prominently, being performed twice in front of a backdrop of a stadium covered in newspaper. Watched by a worldwide audience of 750 million people.[9]
In 2019 Capaldi's "Someone You Loved" spent 3 weeks at #1 in the US Billboard Hot 100 while also topping the US AC, Hot AC & Top 40 Radio charts.[10] It spent over 6 months in the European Airplay Top 40 Chart.[11] It was named the biggest single of 2019 by the Official UK Charts Company, spending 7 consecutive weeks at #1 in the Official UK Singles Chart and 43 weeks in the UK Radio Airplay Top 40 Chart.[12] It has amassed over 3.1 billion plays on Spotify alone, currently making it the fourth highest streaming single in Spotify's history.[13]
