Luton was name checked by Stone Roses bass playing legend Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield in a tweeted reply to Bedford pop sensation Tom Grennan after he was handed an honorary degree by the University of Bedfordshire.
The Found What I’ve Been Looking For singer, who is also a former Hatters youth player, was bestowed with the doctorate for an ‘outstanding contribution to the arts’ at a ceremony in the University’s Putteridge Bury campus, Luton, which he called ‘truly humbling’ and ‘MADNESS’ in a tweet.
Mounfield, who also used to play with legendary British band Primal Scream, responded with a tweet saying: ‘Now go and drive a fuck off flock of sheep through luton town centre dread !’
Grennan later expanded on his experience in a long Facebook post, where he posted the speech he gave in front of hundreds of students from the University of Bedfordshire’s Faculty of Creative Art, Technologies & Science (CATS).
It read: ‘Firstly I just want to say I’m completely overwhelmed by this honour, if I’m honest I am truly blown away by it. Secondly, I would like to thank the University for bestowing such an incredible award on me, It means a great deal to me, both professionally and personally and also to my family, and others who have helped me so far on this journey that we call life, they know who they are!
‘In truth I feel like a bit of a fraud stood here in front of all of you who have worked so hard for many years towards gaining this degree. It’s fair to say that I have gone about things a little differently, haven’t I?’
Grennan spoke about how he struggled at school with ‘the life sentence of Dyslexia / Discalculase and Dyspraxia’ but that ‘music was never a big part of my life growing up’.
Yet one drunken karaoke rendition at a party saw people praise him for his voice, which he says was ‘pivotal in my life’.
The second turning point came when he was attacked on the street, leaving him hospitalised with metal plates and screws in his jaw. He said: ‘I was in a mad dark place. It hurt me mentally. but strangely it was a major catalyst in my life.’
And, despite a period of depression in which he barely left the house for six months he said: ‘Influenced by the likes of Ray Charles, Kendrick Lamar and Amy Winehouse, I poured all my trauma, pent-up pain and frustration, into songs, and then I just found I could escape from the dark and into the light, I just loved doing it, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Now, anytime I feel anything, I write about it. Music is a beautiful gift for everyone, it’s incredibly cathartic on every level, for everyone.’
His final message to the to the other alumni and guests was: ‘Do not under estimate how far you have come, but also be aware that this is the start of a beautiful journey for you if you truly want it!
‘Also, remember that everyone connected to you is so proud of each and everyone of you! But I ask you to do one thing whilst you graduate today, remember those who have have supported you – your family and friends, teachers, lovers, and even people who you have never met but from whom you have learned. Musicians, poets, family, friends, scientists, writers, everyone who has inspired you and contributed to the world’s body of knowledge and arts.
‘Take the gifts that they have given you and do some good in the world. There’s no better way to honor them! Be lucky’.
Grennan last year has also pledged his support for Luton’s #saveourtown campaign and the proposals for an 1,800-capacity music venue at Power Court, alongside a new 17,500-seat football stadium. The plans were subsequently triumphantly ushered through by Luton Council earlier this year.
