Tom was born and grew up in Bolton, Greater Manchester. He learned to play the guitar at the age of sixteen after trying out his older brother’s guitar. In 2009 a mass audition was held by Jayne Collins to form a boy band, after successfully launching Parade and The Saturdays. Parker auditioned and was selected as one of five members, along with Nathan Sykes, Siva Kaneswaran, Max George, and Jay McGuiness out of the thousands of others who auditioned. The band was formed and together they worked on their debut album before finding a name for their band, The Wanted.

Their debut single “All Time Low” was released on 25 July 2010 and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, “Heart Vacancy” was released on 17 October 2010. The song hit number two on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 18 in Ireland. Their third single, “Lose My Mind” was released on 26 December 2010. The song peaked at number 19 on the chart and peaked at number 30 in Ireland. In 2011 the single was released in Germany and in 2012 in the United States.