By Keith Walsh British fashion entrepreneur Tom Cridland’s success as a clothier is all the more impressive when one considers that he achieved much of it -including interviews for major media outlets like the BBC, The Economist, CNN, Fox News, Sky News, Vanity Fair, you name it –in between drunken episodes and sometimes during them.
Million Dollar Addict, Cridland’s debut into book authorship, is a coming of age story, memoir, and self-help book all in one. Now 31, Cridland matured from his days at Bristol University, when he would go out and get so drunk he couldn’t see, and end up in various misadventures including wetting himself in public, carrying a rotting pig’s head around town, or stealing a bottle of liquor from behind a bar and getting cold cocked by a bouncer as a result. While searching for himself in the bottom of bottle, he discovered he wanted anything else but a predictably boring career, or anything remotely similar to one in accounting. It was also during these years at Bristol University that he met his now fiancée, Debs Marx.
Throughout Million Dollar Addict, Cridland rightly attributes his success to Marx, who who has stood by him through thick and thin. After many chapters of hilarious, sometimes pathetic incidents early in the book, the underlying theme of familial love and especially that of Marx shines through. One of the maxims Cridland states explicitly in the memoir is to make sure you let loved ones know you appreciate and value them and act accordingly. During his music career, which started in 2016 after he made trousers for Elton John’s drummer Nigel Olsson (and became inspired to study the drums and write tunes), Cridland has written love songs about his parents, about Debs, and about his brother James. Pretty corny stuff, but it’s the kind of sincerity that is useful for writing music and memoirs.
A Love Story
Much of Million Dollar Addict is dedicated to Cridland’s second career as the founder, vocalist and drummer for The Tomicks, who released three albums. Then there’s his solo career, for which Cridland released a single a week for more than six months, in an impressive burst of creativity that resulted in the writing and recording of more than 100 singles in less than two years. Thirty three of these singles are available on the LP One Single A Week. Then came his big break opening for the legendary band The Stylistics for their 2021 UK Tour. Along with his ambition, Cridland possesses ample curiosity and talent, the good luck to come from a supportive family, and loyal friends. As he himself once admitted, he had an “insanely privileged upbringing.”
It’s probably the case that had Cridland not given up alcohol six years ago, this memoir and indeed his multiple careers wouldn’t exist (including his remarkable progress on drums and piano, and his latest musical venture, an Elton John tribute band). One wonders how much Debs would have put up with had Cridland not become a teetotaler, something she had a hand in to be sure. The latter chapters are dedicated to the love story at the heart of the memoir and Tom’s redemption. Cridland also cites Elton John, one of his greatest musical heroes, as a sobriety inspiration.
Cridland’s narrative voice throughout Million Dollar Addict is often acerbic, often directed at members of the British royal family and celebrity culture, but more often than not, at himself. It’s this willingness to take a reflective gaze at himself and come up with an honest appraisal that has served him so well in overcoming his insecurities and compulsive alcoholism. Indeed, though Cridland didn’t turn to Alcoholics Anonymous, with their approach to self-awareness, he affirms their value to those in need.
As a self-help book, Million Dollar Addict is a humorous and entertaining alternative to smug or pedantic guides to well-being. And though Cridland’s book doesn’t come too near to the debauched escapades in a Hunter S. Thompson narrative (and he’s fortunate that it doesn’t), there’s enough risqué material within its pages to amuse those who enjoy that kind of thing.
Tom Cridland dot com
Tom Cridland “Million Dollar Addict” Q and A Part 1
Tom Cridland “Million Dollar Addict” Q and A Part 2
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