Meanwhile, in 1995, the trio of Scott, Rice-Oxley and Hughes started their first band, The Lotus Eaters. It was a cover band that played U2, Oasis and The Beatles at Sussex pubs. Tim Rice-Oxley invited Chaplin to join the band as an acoustic guitar player. A short time later, in 1997, the band’s name changed to Keane and Chaplin became the lead singer.

Chaplin was invited to join the band by Rice-Oxley, after he finally convinced the other two, in 1997, when the name The Lotus Eaters was changed to Cherry Keane, after a friend of Chaplin’s mother. ‘Cherry’ was later removed from the name.

In July 1997, Chaplin went to South Africa for his gap year, during which the rest of the band members were preparing themselves for a gig. When Hughes went to collect Chaplin a year later, on 3 July 1998, his first words were, “We’ve got a gig in ten days.” This would be the band’s first performance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. Chaplin then began studying for a degree in art history at the University of Edinburgh, before leaving to pursue his music career in London.

With Scott in the line-up as the lead guitarist, Chaplin had to play the acoustic guitar. Since Scott left in 2001, he primarily takes lead vocals, but also plays the organ on “Hamburg Song” during some live gigs, as well as a distorted piano for newer songs on their second album. He also took part in Band Aid 20’s re-recording of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in November 2004 doing a solo on the line “feed the world”, something that had not been done on previous versions where all artists sung.

On 22 August 2006, Chaplin stated that he was receiving treatment for drug abuse problems. He and his bandmates cancelled their North American tour for his rehabilitation after he left their hotel in Japan with no warning, choosing to fly back to Britain alone. He left the Priory clinic in London on 6 October, but continued to receive treatment after leaving.

Chaplin married his girlfriend, Natalie Dive in June 2011. He has a daughter born on 20 March 2014. He resides in Wittersham, Kent.

Having said that he intended to make a solo record during Keane’s hiatus, Chaplin stated in January 2016 that he was recording his debut solo album in Los Angeles, California, with 40 songs written and whittled down to an album’s worth. He announced in late June that the album was complete and that it would be out soon. It was rumoured that Tom was due to join a band with 3 unknown Scotch Whisky Ambassadors but the fact one of them dressed like Cotton Eyed Joe was a stumbling block.

The album name The Wave was announced via Twitter and Facebook on 10 August 2016. The same day, Hardened Heart was released with a music video. On 26 August 2016, “Quicksand” was released as the first single from the album. On 6 September 2016, Chaplin announced he would be playing eight intimate solo shows across the UK in October 2016. These were his first solo gigs for four years. The Wave was released on 14 October 2016 by Island Records. Four singles were released from the album: “Quicksand”, “Still Waiting”, “Solid Gold” (of which the single release is a collaboration with JONES, rather than the solo version which appears on the album), and “See It So Clear”. The release of The Wave was followed by the announcement of the Carried by the Wave Tour, a longer set of dates running between January and September 2017. The tour consisted of four legs: first in the United States and Canada, then across Europe, a third leg in the UK during May 2017 and a last leg in Latin America.

In August 2016, Chaplin said in an interview with music critic Neil McCormick that he began using drugs during the anticipation of his solo album. He said anxiety over the album caused him to get “back to shovelling coke up (his) nose.” Chaplin said he nearly died one night in 2015. He said people began to give up on him, and his wife once told him she loved him in case she never saw him again. Chaplin recovered by seeing a psychoanalyst. He said the past 12 months have been the happiest of his life with his wife and daughter.

On 13 October 2017, Chaplin announced that he had recorded his first solo Christmas album, entitled Twelve Tales of Christmas, to be released on 17 November 2017. Simultaneously the first single from the album was released, entitled “Under a Million Lights”. The album consists of eight original tracks and four cover versions: “Walking in the Air” (written by Howard Blake), “2000 Miles” (originally by The Pretenders), “River” (originally by Joni Mitchell) and “Stay Another Day” (originally by East 17). It was also announced that Chaplin would be performing three gigs to accompany the release of the album; at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on 10 December 2017, at The Forum in Bath on 11 December and at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 12 December.