An Exmouth teenager looks set to storm the American pop charts when his debut album is released later this year.

Tom Andrews, 17, of St Johns Road, shot to fame in the States last year when top talkshow host Ellen DeGeneres invited him to perform on her show, and signed him to her Eleveneleven record label.

Since then, Tom, a former pupil at Colyton Grammar School, has been working hard on songwriting and recording and, after releasing single Carry Me On earlier this year, is hoping to finalise his debut album this autumn.

Tom said: “I only started singing when I was 13, through a singing competition in Exmouth, and from there I’ve just got more and more into it.

“I pushed harder and harder and it’s just snowballed to where I am now, which is fantastic.”

Tom is now heading back to the States to put the finishing touches to his album, and Carry Me On has just been released on iTunes in the UK.