Tom Robinson

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Biography

Tom Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits " Glad to Be Gay ", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band . He later peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart with his solo single "War Baby". at ChartStats.com.

Biography

Tom Robinson was born into a middle-class family in Cambridge on 1 June 1950.Rapp, Linda (2004). . GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgender, and Queer Culture''. He attended Friends School Saffron Walden , a co-ed independent school (UK)|privately funded Quaker school, between 1961 and 1967. Robinson has two brothers and a sister: Matthew Robinson (producer)|Matthew (former executive producer of BBC One 's EastEnders and Byker Grove , currently running Khmer Mekong Films in Cambodia), George and Sophy.

At the age of 13, Robinson realised that he was a homosexual when he fell in love with another boy at school.Simmonds, Sylvie. . TomRobinson.com. At that time, male homosexual activity was still a crime in England, punishable by prison. Wracked with shame and self-hatred, he had a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide at 16. A head teacher got him transferred to Finchden Manor, a therapeutic community for disturbed teenagers in Kent , where he spent his following six years. At Finchden Manor, Robinson was inspired by John Peel 's The Perfumed Garden (radio show)|The Perfumed Garden on UK pirate radio|pirate Wonderful Radio London|Radio London , and by a visit from Alexis Korner . The legendary bluesman and broadcaster transfixed a roomful of people with nothing but his voice and an acoustic guitar. The whole direction of Robinson's life and career became suddenly clear to him.

In 1973, Robinson moved to London and joined the acoustic trio Café Society . They impressed Ray Davies of The Kinks enough for him to produce their debut album, though it sold only 600 copies. The working relationship with Davies supposedly ended when, infuriated by Davies' lack of punctuality, Robinson sarcastically performed The Kinks' hit " Tired of Waiting for You " to him when he finally arrived at the studio. Davies retaliated with the less-than-complimentary Kinks single "Prince of the Punks", about Robinson. In London, Robinson became involved in the emerging gay scene and embraced the politics of gay liberation, which linked gay rights to the wider issues of social justice.

Inspired by an early Sex Pistols gig, he left Café Society in 1976, and founded the more political Tom Robinson Band . The following year the group released the single "2-4-6-8 Motorway", which peaked at #5 in the UK Singles Chart for two weeks. at ChartStats.com. The song alludes obliquely to a gay truck driver. In February 1978, the band released the live extended play Rising Free , which peaked at #18 in the UK Singles Chart and spawned the hit " Glad to Be Gay ", originally written for a 1976 London gay pride parade . on BothWays.com. The song was banned by the BBC Radio 1 . In May 1978, the band released its debut album, Power in the Darkness , which was very well received, peaking at #4 in the UK Albums Chart , at ChartStats.com. and receiving a gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry|BPI . Their second album, TRB Two , however, was a commercial and critical failure, and the band broke up four months after its release.

In 1979, Robinson co-wrote several songs with Elton John , including his minor hit " Sartorial Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More? ) " which peaked at #39 in the U.S. Billboard Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100 and a song about a young boy in boarding school who has a crush on an older student called "Elton's Song". It was recorded, but not released until 1981 in the album "The Fox".

In 1980, Robinson organised Sector 27 , a less political rock band that released a critically acclaimed but unsuccessful album produced by Steve Lillywhite . The band nevertheless received an enthusiastic reception at a Madison Square Garden concert with The Police . However, their management company went bankrupt, the band disintegrated, and Robinson suffered another nervous breakdown. Desolate and in debt, Robinson fled to Hamburg , Germany, much like his idol David Bowie Berlin Trilogy|escaped to Berlin at a low point in his life . Living in a friend's spare room, he began writing again and ended up working in East Berlin with local band NO55.

In 1982, Robinson penned the song "War Baby" about divisions between East Germany|East and West Germany, and recorded his first solo album North By Northwest with producer Richard Mazda . "War Baby" peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart and at #1 in the UK Indie Chart for three weeks, at Cherry Red Records reviving his career. His following single, "Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio)", peaked at #39 in the UK Singles Chart at ChartStats.com and provided him further income when it was covered by Pukka Orchestra in 1984. The Pukkas' version was a top 20 hit in Canada under the title "Listen To The Radio".

Robinson's return to Britain led to late-night performances in cabarets at the Edinburgh Fringe , some of which later surfaced on the live album Midnight at the Fringe . His career enjoyed a resurgence in the mid 90s with a trio of albums for the respected folk/roots label Cooking Vinyl and a Glastonbury Festival|Glastonbury performance in 1994. When We Played Glastonbury - Pulp, Kenicke and Tom Robinson. In 1986, a BBC producer offered him his own radio show on the BBC World Service . Since then, Robinson has unusually presented programmes on all the BBC's national stations: BBC Radio 1|Radio 1 , BBC Radio 2|Radio 2 , BBC Radio 3|Radio 3 , BBC Radio 4|Radio 4 BBC Radio 5 Live|5 Live and BBC Radio 6 Music|6 Music . He has presented The Locker Room , a long-running series about men and masculinity, for Radio 4 in the early 1990s, and later hosted the Home Truths tribute to John Peel a year after his death in 2004. In 1997, he won a Sony Academy Award for ''You've Got To Hide Your Love Away'', a radio documentary about gay music, produced by Benjamin Mepsted. He currently presents his own show on 6 Music, featuring live music sessions, on Monday and Tuesday nights, and freelances on Radio 2's Mark Radcliffe Show and Radio 4's Something Understood , and Pick of the Week . In 1994 he wrote and presented Surviving Suicide , about his suicide attempt.

Currently, Robinson rarely performs live, apart from two annual free concerts, known as the Castaway Parties, for members of his mailing list. These take place in South London and Belgium every January. In the Belgian Castaway shows, he introduces many songs in Dutch language|Dutch . The Castaway Parties invariably feature a wide variety of established and unknown artists and groups who have included Show Of Hands , Philip Jeays, Jan Allain, Jakko Jakszyk , Stoney (musician)|Stoney , Roddy Frame , Martyn Joseph , The Bewley Brothers and Paleday alongside personal friends such as Lee Griffiths and T. V. Smith .

Robinson played "2-4-6-8 Motorway" and "Glad to Be Gay" at the BBC introducing stage on the Friday afternoon of the Glastonbury Festival 2011|2011 Glastonbury Festival , after announcing that The Coral would not be showing as they were 'stuck in the mud'.

Personal life

A longtime supporter and former volunteer of London's Gay Switchboard help-line, it was at a 1982 benefit party for the organisation that he met Sue Brearley, Peter Tatchell . . the woman with whom he would eventually live and have two children, and later marry.

In the mid-1990s, when Robinson became a father, the tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloids ran stories about what they deemed as a sexual orientation change, running headlines such as "Britain's Number One Gay in Love with Girl Biker!" ( The People|The Sunday People ). Robinson continued to identify as a gay man, telling an interviewer for the The Guardian : "I have much more sympathy with bisexuality|bisexuals now, but I am absolutely not one." "Our enemies do not draw the distinction between gay and bisexual", he added.

In a 1994 interview for the Boston Globe , Robinson asserted, "We've been fighting for tolerance for the last 20 years, and I've campaigned for people to be able to love whoever the hell they want. That's what we're talking about: tolerance and freedom and liberty—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So if somebody won't grant me the same tolerance I've been fighting for them, hey, they've got a problem, not me." In 1996, Robinson released an album Having It Both Ways . On it he added a verse to "Glad to Be Gay", in which he sings: "Well if gay liberation means freedom for all, a label is no liberation at all. I'm here and I'm queer and do what I do, I'm not going to wear a straitjacket for you."Rebecca Fowler , "National Music Festival: 2-4-6-8 it's never too late: He went in and out of fashion but Tom Robinson is still driven by music. Rebecca Fowler meets the gay activist who became a family man," The Independent , 4 June 1996. In 1998 his epic about bisexuality, "Blood Brother", won three awards at the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards in New York.

Peter Tatchell criticised Vanessa Thorpe's "Glad Not To Be Gay" article about Robinson in The Independent for suggesting the LGBT community would be "shocked and angered" that a gay man would "go straight". He stated: "Tom Robinson has behaved rather commendably, in my view. Ever since the beginning of his relationship with Sue, he has continued to describe himself as "a gay man who happens to be in love with a woman". Who could quarrel with that? I can't."

Activism

Robinson is a supporter of Amnesty International and Peter Tatchell's OutRage! human rights organisation and a leader of the Rock Against Racism campaign. He is also an enthusiastic proponent of Apple Inc.|Apple computers, which he has used extensively since the mid 1980s. In 1999 and 2000, Robinson was involved in a celebrity seminar work for Apple to promote their home video editing software iMovie .

In popular culture

A fictionalised version of Tom Robinson, portrayed by Mathew Baynton , appears in the Episode 8 (Ashes to Ashes)|last episode of the first series of the BBC One drama Ashes to Ashes (TV series)|Ashes to Ashes , as leader at a Gay Liberation Front protest in London. The character is later incarcerated with other protestors by the time-travelling protagonist, Detective Inspector Alex Drake (played by Keeley Hawes ) and dismisses her claims that he will one day marry a woman. The scene supposedly takes place on 9 October 1981, precisely fourteen months before the real Robinson met his future wife. The character then leads other protestors in singing a round of "Glad to Be Gay" in the confinement facility, much to List of Ashes to Ashes characters#Viv James|Sergeant Viv James ' annoyance. "2-4-6-8 Motorway" is also used in the soundtrack during the protest after Detective Sergeant Ray Carling sings a few bars to Alex, who then proceeds to drive a pink tank over a parked Ford Escort (Europe)|Ford Escort which she believes would otherwise have later been used in a car bombing. Robinson's song "War Baby" (which he premiered the night he met his wife) is used in the soundtrack of the third series.

Discography

Over his career, Robinson has released more than twenty albums either as a solo performer or as a member of a group. He has also released fanclub-only Bootleg recording|bootleg s known as the Castaway Club series.

Albums

North By Northwest (1982)

Hope and Glory (1984, later reissued as War Baby: Hope and Glory ) – peaked at #21 in the UK Albums Chart at ChartStats.com.

Still Loving You (1986)

The Collection (1987)

Last Tango: Midnight at the Fringe (1988)

We Never Had It So Good (1990, with Jakko Jakszyk )

''Winter of '89 (1992, bootlegged as Motorway: Live )

Living in a Boom Time (1992)

Love Over Rage (1994)

Having It Both Ways (1996)

The Undiscovered Tom Robinson (1998)

Home From Home (1999)

Smelling Dogs (2001, spoken word album)

Singles

Year	Song	Peak position
Year	Song	UK Singles Chart
1980	"Not Ready"	–
1980	"Invitation"	–
1981	"Total Recall"	–
1982	"Now Martin's Gone"	–
1983	"War Baby"	6
1983	"Listen to the Radio – Atmospherics"	39 at ChartStats.com.
1984	"Back in the Old Country"	79
1984	" Rikki Don't Lose That Number "	58
1985	"Prison"	–
1986	"Nothing Like the Real Thing"	–
1986	"Still Loving You"	88
1987	"Feel So Good"	93
1987	"Spain"	–
1988	"Hard Cases"	–
1990	"Blood Brother"	–
1992	"Living in a Boom Time"	–
1994	"Hard"	–
1996	"Connecticut"	–

Copyright Citations

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Undetermined Music Artists

Tom Robinson

Biography

Biography

Personal life

Activism

In popular culture

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Copyright Citations