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Tom Robinson
(June 1, 1950 - living) U.K.

Tom Robinson

Singer, songwriter, guitar player, and gay activist

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Born Thomas Giles Robinson, in Cambridge, Britain, at age 10 he was a chorister at Saffron Walden parish church, until his voice broke, and everything else seemed to break along with it. He was brought up as a Quaker, and from 1961 to 1965 he went to a Quaker school. He studied oboe, clarinet, and bass guitar. He was also briefly at École des Roches, Verneul-sur-Avre.

His family moved to Teeside. At a time in Britain when homosexuality was still punishable by prison, he fell hopelessly (and unrequitedly) in love with another boy at school. Wracked with shame and selfhatred, Tom attempted suicide at age 16.

An understanding head teacher managed to get him transferred to a pioneering therapeutic community for disturbed adolescents, from 1966 to 1972, at Finchden Manor, Kent. It was here that he met Danny Kurstow with whom he formed his first group Davanq in 1971.

Tom RobinsonIn 1973 he moved into a bedsit in London and worked as a publisher's clerk in the West End. He began playing in folk clubs with friends, and he formed Café Society with Hereward Kaye and Ray Doyle. They impressed Ray Davies of The Kinks enough for him to produce their debut album, though it sold only 600 copies.

Tom didn't care too much - he'd discovered London's emerging gay scene and was happily in love. He fervently embraced the politics of gay liberation, and soon began questioning the wider issues of equality and justice in society at large. He was the first successful British pop singer to be openly gay.

He was a gay activist from the early 1970s. His work for the London Gay Switchboard was described the the 1979 Granada television documentary Too Good To Be True?. He also wrote and performed for the theatre group Gay Sweatshop - Stone (1976); Jingleball, (1976); Age of Consent, (1977).

In 1977 he formed the Tom Robinson Band with Danny Kustow, Ian 'Quince' Parker, and Preston Heyman. He wrote Glad to be Gay and performed it on the London Weekend television programme Teenage Gays in July 1977.

Barry Jackson was responsible for putting out 500-issue record of the song. Tom Robinson also performed it at the Tom Robinson Band's benefit concert for the Northern Ireland Gay Rights and One Parent Families Association in 1978, as part of his solo set at a Lesbian and Gay Rights March in Washington in 1979, and at the Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Ball in 1979.

It became a gay anthem and he continued to perform it with updated and topical lyrics. Although it condemned the homophobia of the press and the police, it also admonished gay people for their apathy. A version is published in The New Gay Liberation Book. In 1980 he formed the group Sector 27, but it was short-lived and split up in 1981/2.

Some people are born bisexual, some achieve bisexuality but for some it arrives as a complete shock. In 1982 across a crowded room at a Gay Switchboard benefit, Tom Robinson spotted the boyfriend of his dreams who, inconveniently, turned out to be a woman. Over the years they became friends, then lovers, and eventually parents, despite a brief period in tabloid hell.

In 1990 he turned 40 and became a father. By the age of 42 he had got married and had two children. This upset some gay activists, but he continued to insist that he was still gay. He discussed this on the radio programme Talk About Sex in 1992.

Tom RobinsonHe appeared a number of times on television and radio, and often spoke about gay rights. In 1990 he appeared on the gay television programme Out On Tuesday, and identified as 'gay' in a segment on bisexuality. In 1992 he presented a series of programmes called The Locker Room on BBC Radio 4 and covered various aspects of masculinity. In 1996 he criticised the press intrusion into his private life in the programme 'The Artist Formerly Known as Gay' as part of the series Having It Both Ways.

In 1997 he formed the Castaway Northwest record label. He also won the Sony Radio Award for the BBC GLR radio programme You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. In 1998 he was voted the Out Male Artist Of The Year at the Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA).

Tom remains an active supporter of Amnesty International, The National Assembly Against Racism and The Samaritans along with Peter Tatchell's Outrage! campaign and many others. Still connecting, sharing and breaking down barriers after all these years.

When not writing or performing himself, Robinson can be found running creative workshop sessions for adults and teenagers everywhere from the Royal College of Art to the Greek island of Skyros. Since March 2002 he can also be found on BBC Radio Two's new digital music network 6 Music - where he introduces new and interesting music to a wider audience four nights a week... His spare time is spent working on a new batch of songs for his 24th album.

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Discography, with the Tom Robinson Band:
  • 2-4-6-8 Motorway (1977)
  • Power In The Darkness (1978)
  • Rising Free, February (1978)
  • Up Against the Wall (1978)
  • TRB2 (1979)

Other albums:
  • Sector 27 (1980)
  • North By Northwest (1982)
  • Cabaret 79: Glad to be Gay, 1982)
  • Listen to the Radio: Atmospherics (1983)
  • War Baby (1983)
  • Hope and Glory (1984)
  • Still Loving You (1986)
  • Last Tango (1989)
  • We Never Had It So Good (1990)
  • Living In A Boom Time (1992)
  • Love Over Rage (1994)
  • Having It Both Ways (1996)
  • The Undiscovered (1998)
  • Home From Home (1999)
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