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Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby
Dolby in 2006
Dolby in 2006
Background information
Birth name Thomas Morgan Robertson
Born October 14, 1958, London
Genre(s) Synth pop
Pop/rock
New wave
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter,
Musician,
Record Producer
Instrument(s) Keyboards, Synthesisers, Guitar, Vocals
Years active 1982 - present
Label(s) Capitol Records
Virgin
Website http://www.thomasdolby.com/

Thomas Dolby (born Thomas Morgan Robertson, on 14 October 1958) is an English musician, producer, and inventor.

Contents

  • 1 Life and career
    • 1.1 Stage name
    • 1.2 Musical background
    • 1.3 Other interests
    • 1.4 New Material
  • 2 Discography
  • 3 Singles
  • 4 Collaborations and connections
  • 5 References
  • 6 External links

Life and career

Thomas was born in London (and not in Cairo, as his early biography from EMI suggested). His father, Martin Robertson, was an internationally-distinguished professor of classical Greek art and archaelogy at the University of London and Oxford University, and in his youth Thomas lived in Greece, Italy, and France. Dolby married actress Kathleen Beller in 1988; the couple have three children together.

Stage name

Thomas Dolby
Thomas Dolby

The "Dolby" nickname comes from the name Dolby Laboratories, and was given to him by friends impressed with his studio tinkering. Dolby Laboratories was reportedly very displeased with Robertson using the company name as his own stage name and sued him, trying to stop him from using the name Dolby entirely. Eventually, the case was settled out of court and it was agreed that he would refrain from using the word Dolby in any context other than with the name Thomas.

Musical background

Dolby is associated with Synthpop, a form of pop music incorporating electronic instruments. Most of Dolby's work covers a wide range of musical styles and moods distinct from the high-energy pop sound of his few, better known commercial successes. His most recognized song is "She Blinded Me With Science" with sound samples from Magnus Pyke, although he describes this track as his least favorite. The song reached #5 on the USA Hot 100. It was featured very shortly in the "Treehouse of Horror XIV" episode of The Simpsons, where Professor Frink was winning an award at a science convention. It was also sampled at a slower speed by the group Mobb Deep in the song Got it Twisted .

Early in his career, he played keyboards with Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club and is credited on their debut album. Dolby played some synth parts on the Thompson Twins album Set. He is also the author of Lene Lovich's hit single "New Toy," and co-wrote "Magic's Wand" with Whodini.

Perhaps his most popular side-gig was as keyboard player on Def Leppard's 1983 Pyromania album. Due to contractual problems (they did not share the same record label), Dolby appeared on Pyromania using the alias Booker T. Boffin.

Dolby contributed the signature synthesizer sound on the track "Urgent" on Foreigner's 1981 album 4. On the same album he played the atmospheric synth intro to the mega-hit "Waiting For A Girl Like You".

In 1985, Dolby appeared at the Grammy Awards, which was televised, along with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Howard Jones. All four musicians were big on the mid-1980s music scene, and they were also all keyboard and synthesizer experts. This performance can be found on YouTube. That same year, Dolby performed at the Live Aid concert in London as part of David Bowie's band.

Dolby continued to perform live in the late 80's and early 90's. He supported Depeche Mode in their Rose Bowl concert on June 18th, 1988. In 1990, he appeared in the huge charity concert performance of Roger Waters's rock opera "The Wall" in Berlin, organized by Roger Waters: he played keyboards in "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" (sung by Cyndi Lauper), and then played the Teacher's role in the sequence "The Trial".

He appeared on-stage with the reunited Soft Boys in San Francisco on April 7, 2001 and played synthesizer on "You'll Have To Go Sideways", "Evil Guy" and Pink Floyd's "Astronomy Domine". "Evil Guy", from that evening's sound-check, wound up on the Soft Boys' 2002 EP Side Three. It was not the first time Dolby and members of the Soft Boys appeared on record together. Dolby played keyboards on Robyn Hitchcock's first solo album, Black Snake Diamond Role. Meanwhile Hitchcock appeared on Dolby's Flat Earth, performing the role of Keith on "White City." Soft Boys bassist Matthew Seligman recorded and toured with Dolby in the 1980s.

Dolby returned to his musical career in 2006, completing a string of small dates in California and a single mall opening in Boulder, Colorado before receptive crowds. He performed his first solo public show in 25 years at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco, California on January 21, 2006, surprising the crowd who were there to see local band Notorious. He then launched an American tour, the Sole Inhabitant Tour, on April 12, 2006.

Other interests

In 1993, Dolby established himself as a successful business entrepreneur after founding Beatnik Inc. (formerly Headspace), a technology company specializing in mobile phone audio file formats, such as polyphonic ringtones for mobile phones. [1]

While still remaining on the company board, Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO of Beatnik Inc. to pursue other technologically innovative interests, such as founding Retro Ringtones LLC in 2002, which produces the RetroFolio™ ringtone asset management software suite for companies involved in the mobile phone ringtone business. At the second annual Mobile Music Awards, Miami, Florida, in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards.

Dolby's musical talents have also been put to use recently creating hundreds of digital polyphonic ringtones now found on mobile phones everywhere (including the polyphonic version of the infamous Nokia signature theme). He is often a major speaker at technology conferences such as Comdex, Websphere and Nokia.

He has also worked as a producer and a soundtrack composer for both films and video games, most notably the third installment of the CGI collection, the Mind's Eye (series). The song Hyperactive! is featured in the 2002 PlayStation 2 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the New Wave radio station Wave 103.

In July 1998, Thomas received a Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music award from Yahoo! Internet Life.

New Material

In 2006, Thomas Dolby announced via his blog his intention to produce a new "live" concert CD and DVD covering the US leg of the "Sole Inhabitant Tour 2006". The CD represents a recording of two gigs played by Dolby at Martyrs in Chicago, while the DVD was filmed at the Berklee Performance Center at Berklee College of Music. Both the CD and DVD were released in November 2006, and are distributed through CD Baby and iTunes. Dolby autographed and numbered the first 1,000 copies of the CD and DVD. He has also been in recent discussions with EMI over a possible DVD-release of his back-catalog of music videos. [2]

Thomas Dolby also announced a return to musical recording with the intended release of an independently produced and yet-to-be-named collection of new music in 2007. [3]

Thomas toured through out the months of November and December of 2006 with electronic musician BT. This tour included a version of "Airwaves" that BT added his own technique to, and one new song "Your Karma Hit My Dogma."

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

EP's

Soundtracks

Singles

Year Song UK singles US Hot 100 US MSR US Dance Album
1981 "Europa And The Pirate Twins"1 48 67 37 - The Golden Age Of Wireless
1982 "Windpower" 31 - - - The Golden Age Of Wireless
1982 "She Blinded Me With Science"1 49 5 6 3 The Golden Age Of Wireless
1983 "One Of Our Submarines" - - 17 - The Golden Age Of Wireless
1984 "Hyperactive!"2 17 62 - - The Flat Earth
1984 "I Scare Myself" 46 - - - The Flat Earth
1984 "Dissidents" 90 - - 17 The Flat Earth
1988 "Airhead" 53 - - 6 Aliens Ate My Buick
1989 "Hot Sauce" 80 - - - Aliens Ate My Buick
1992 "Close But No Cigar" 22 - - - Astronauts & Heretics
1992 "I Love You Goodbye" 36 - - - Astronauts & Heretics
1992 "Silk Pyjamas" 62 - - - Astronauts & Heretics

Collaborations and connections

The following artists have worked with Thomas Dolby:

References

External links


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