Thomas Dolby is an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musicianA musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
and
producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Best known for his 1982 hit "
She Blinded Me with Science"She Blinded Me With Science" is a New Wave song by British musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the UK in October 1982 and was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the second edition of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless. It is...
", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a
session musicianSession musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
.
Early life
Dolby was born in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, contrary to information in early 1980s press releases that reported his birthplace as
CairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
,
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. His father,
Martin RobertsonCharles Martin Robertson was a British scholar of classical art and archaeology and poet. He was the elder son of Donald Struan Robertson and Petica Coursolles, née Jones , who hosted a literary salon. Martin Robertson, as he was always known, attended the Leys School and Trinity College Cambridge...
, was an internationally distinguished
professorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of classical Greek art and archeology at the
University of London-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and Oxford University, and in his youth Thomas lived or worked in France,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. Dolby attended
Abingdon SchoolAbingdon School is a British day and boarding independent school for boys situated in Abingdon, Oxfordshire , previously known as Roysse's School. In 1998 a formal merger took place between Abingdon School and Josca's, a preparatory school four miles to the west at Frilford...
in 1975-76, completing his A levels whilst there. He later married actress
Kathleen BellerKathleen Beller is an actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role for her role in Promises in the Dark...
in 1988; the couple have three children together.
Stage name
The Thomas Dolby stage name originated from a nickname that Thomas picked up around the age of 13. Thomas was always messing around with keyboards and tapes and the like, so his friends nicknamed him
Dolby, which came from the name
Dolby LaboratoriesDolby Laboratories, Inc. , often shortened to Dolby Labs, is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction and audio encoding/compression.-History:...
. Later, when Thomas was 18 or 19 years old, British singer
Tom RobinsonTom Robinson 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...
was popular, so the then-Thomas Robertson chose to adopt the stage name "Thomas Dolby" when he began working professionally. Early publicity implied that "Dolby" was a middle name, and that the artist's full name was Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson; this is not true, but he does sometimes informally go by the initials TMDR.
After the release of "She Blinded Me With Science",
Dolby LaboratoriesDolby Laboratories, Inc. , often shortened to Dolby Labs, is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction and audio encoding/compression.-History:...
expressed concern regarding the musician's stage name. Dolby's record label refused to make him change his name, and Dolby Labs didn't raise the issue again until later, presumably when the musician's soundtrack work came too close to Dolby Labs' noise-reduction involvement that was prominently credited on virtually every motion picture release. After a lengthy legal battle, the court decided that Dolby Labs had no right to restrict the musician from using the name. It was agreed that the musician wouldn't release any electronic equipment using the name. (Coincidentally, inventor/founder Dr.
Ray DolbyRay Dolby is the American engineer and inventor of the noise reduction system known as Dolby NR. He was also a co-inventor of video tape recording while at Ampex. He is the founder of Dolby Laboratories.-Biography:...
has a son named
ThomasTom Dolby is an American novelist, essayist, journalist, and editor. He is the author of the best-selling novel The Trouble Boy , The Sixth Form , and the Secret Society books, including Secret Society and The Trust: A Secret Society Novel...
http://www.dolby.com/about/who-we-are/leadership/ray-dolby.html).
Solo Music Career
Dolby is associated with 'New Pop' or 'New Wave' of the early eighties, a form of
pop musicPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
incorporating electronic instruments, but 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.
The Golden Age of Wireless
Originally released in the UK and US including the songs "Europa And The Pirate Twins", "Airwaves", and "Radio Silence", the first releases of Dolby's first solo album,
The Golden Age of WirelessThe Golden Age of Wireless is a 1982 album by Synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby. The album is notable for containing the pop hit "She Blinded Me with Science" in its later resequencings...
(Harvest, 1982) did not include the album's signature hit, "
She Blinded Me With Science"She Blinded Me With Science" is a New Wave song by British musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the UK in October 1982 and was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the second edition of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless. It is...
". After the five-song EP "Blinded By Science" introduced the catchy single, "The Golden Age Of Wireless", was subsequently re-released with the single that, combined with its accompanying video, became Dolby's most commercially successful single, reaching #5 on The Billboard Hot 100. The album was released a total of five times, each with changes in song order and included songs, or even including a different version of "Radio Silence" or extended remix of "She Blinded Me With Science".
Dolby's debut album,
Wireless peaked at #13 on the Billboard Album Chart. It juxtaposed themes of radio technology, aircraft, and naval submarines with those of relationships and nostalgia. While much of the album's instrumentation is synthesizers and samplers, the album credits a long list of guest musicians as well, with instruments ranging from harmonica and violin to guitar and percussion.
"
She Blinded Me with Science"She Blinded Me With Science" is a New Wave song by British musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the UK in October 1982 and was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the second edition of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless. It is...
" included
sound sampleIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
s from Dr.
Magnus PykeDr. Magnus Alfred Pyke was a British scientist and media figure, who, although apparently quite eccentric and playing up to the mad scientist stereotype, succeeded in explaining science to a lay audience...
. The song reached #5 on the
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It was featured very shortly in the "
Treehouse of Horror XIV"Treehouse of Horror XIV" is the first episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season and originally aired on November 2, 2003. In the fourteenth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer takes on the role of the Grim Reaper , Professor Frink creates a Frankenstein-version of his deceased father and...
" episode of
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, where
Professor FrinkProfessor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
was winning an award at a science convention. It was also sampled at a slower speed by the group
Mobb DeepMobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...
in the 2006 song "
Got it Twisted"Got It Twisted" is the first single from Mobb Deep's Amerikaz Nightmare album, produced by The Alchemist. It samples the 1980s hit "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby....
". "She Blinded Me With Science" was also used as the theme song for the pilot episode of broadcast television sitcom
The Big Bang TheoryThe Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...
though it wasn't used for later episodes (it was, however, later used in that show as Howard's cell phone ringtone in the season 3 episode "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary".)
Dolby's Cube
Beginning in 1983, Dolby collaborated with a number of artists in an occasional studio-bound project called Dolby's Cube. The project had no set line-up, and was essentially a forum for Dolby to release material that was more dance-oriented. Dolby's Cube released a single in 1983 ("Get Out Of My Mix"), another in 1985 ("May The Cube Be With You"), and did soundtrack work for the film "
Howard The DuckHoward the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
" in 1986. Collaborators in Dolby's Cube at various junctures included
Lene LovichLene Lovich is an American singer based in England, who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her most popular hit single was "Lucky Number", first released in 1979.-Early years:...
,
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
of
Parliament-FunkadelicParliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
,
Francois KevorkianFrançois Kevorkian, alias François K, is a French DJ of Armenian origin, remixer, producer and record label owner. Having started his career in renowned clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, the New York City resident is widely considered as one of the forefathers of house...
, and
Lea ThompsonLea Katherine Thompson is an American actress and director. She is best known for her 1990s NBC situation comedy Caroline in the City and her portrayal of Lorraine Baines McFly, Marty McFly's mother, in the Back to the Future trilogy...
.
The Flat Earth
In
1984This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Janury-March:*January 21 – "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite being banned by the BBC; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40.*January 27 – Michael Jackson's...
, Dolby released his second LP,
The Flat EarthThe Flat Earth is Thomas Dolby's followup LP to The Golden Age of Wireless. It was recorded in 1983 and released in early 1984. It peaked at #14 in the UK Albums Chart. The first single from the album was "Hyperactive!", which peaked at #17 in the UK Singles Chart, making it Dolby's...
(Capitol), which peaked at #14 on the
UK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and at #35 on the
BillboardBillboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Album Chart in the US. Utilizing a wide range of influences ranging from nostalgic Jazz, funk-tinged Motown R&B, and World Music, along with a strong electronic element and featuring a slew of guest musicians, including longtime Dolby collaborator
Matthew SeligmanMatthew Seligman is an English bassist who took part of the new wave scene in the 1970s and the 1980s, best known as a member of the Soft Boys.-Biography:...
on bass, Kevin Armstrong on guitar, and Cliff Brigden on percussion, and guest vocals from
Robyn HitchcockRobyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
,
Bruce WoolleyBruce Woolley is an English writer, performer, record producer and composer.- Early years :Bruce Woolley was born in Loughborough, England on 11 November 1953 and was educated at Loughborough Grammar School where he learned electric guitar, began to write songs and where he met his future wife,...
and others,
The Flat Earth further established Dolby's wide range of talents as musician, songwriter, and producer. The album also included a cover of the
Dan HicksDan Hicks , is an American singer-songwriter working at the intersection of cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music...
song "I Scare Myself".
"Hyperactive!", originally written for
Michael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, was the first and most successful single from the album, peaking at #17 on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, making it Dolby's highest-charting single in his home country.
Aliens Ate My Buick
In contrast to the overall introverted nature of
The Flat Earth, Dolby's described his next release,
Aliens Ate My BuickAliens Ate My Buick is the third studio LP release by New Wave/Synth-pop artist Thomas Dolby. It peaked at #30 in the UK Albums Chart. The album's sales were disappointing and reviews were mixed. The lead single from the album, "Airhead", peaked at #53. Second and third singles, "Hot Sauce" and "My...
(1988) in the following quote: "I think it's very bold. Some people who've known my stuff from the beginning find it a bit hard to stomach. They think it's a bit brash. It's certainly unsubtle in a lot of ways. It goes for the jugular. There was always a side to the stuff that I did that was very extroverted and wacky. The flip side of the coin was the more atmospheric, moody stuff. There was always room for both of them. But this album, with the exception of maybe one song ["Budapest by Blimp"], is all on the extrovert side."
Aliens Ate My Buick was strongly funk and dance influenced. The first single was "Airhead", a satirical song about a stereotypical young-and-rich Californian woman, which peaked at #53. The second single, "Hot Sauce", a cover of a
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
song, peaked at #60. There was one more single, "My Brain Is Like A Sieve", which peaked at #80 on the Billboard Album Chart. The album was co-produced by
Bill BottrellBill Bottrell is an American record producer, songwriter and musician, probably best known for his Grammy Award-winning collaborations with Michael Jackson, E.L.O. and Sheryl Crow.- Biography :...
, and featured Terry Jackson on bass guitar.
Astronauts And Heretics
For
Astronauts & HereticsAstronauts & Heretics, released in 1992, was the fourth studio album by Thomas Dolby.-Track listing:All tracks by Dolby and Lost Toy People unless noted#"I Love You Goodbye" - 5:58#"Cruel" - 3:08#"Silk Pyjamas" - 3:38#"I Live in a Suitcase" - 5:29...
(Virgin U.K.), Dolby expanded even further stylistically, starting the songwriting process at the piano, then again collaborating with a variety of guest musicians. Both
Bob WeirBob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
and
Jerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
played guitar on "The Beauty Of A Dream". Eddie Van Halen plays on "Eastern Bloc" and "Close But No Cigar". Other collaborators included Jimmy Z on sax,
Budgie-External links:*...
on drums and
Leland SklarLeland "Lee" Bruce Sklar is an American musician, singer-songwriter and film score composer. A prominent bass guitarist, Sklar has contributed to thousands of albums as a session musician...
on bass guitar. Terry Jackson also contributed bass guitar on four songs before his untimely 1991 death in a plane accident with seven other members of
Reba McEntireReba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
's support band for her "For My Broken Heart" tour. The Funk/Guaracha rhythm guitar on "That's Why People Fall In Love" was delivered by Acid Latin creator Thomas Guzman-Sanchez of Rhythm Tribe (VRL MUZIC)
The highest-charting song off this album was "Close But No Cigar", which reached #22 on the UK charts.
Two other songs on the album, "I Love You Goodbye", and "Silk Pyjamas" employed Zydeco-influences, courtesy of
Crowley, LouisianaCrowley is a city in and the parish seat of Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 14,225 at the 2000 census. The city is noted for its annual International Rice Festival. Crowley has the nickname of "Rice Capital of America", because at one time it was a major center for...
and guest musicians
Michael DoucetMichael Doucet is a Cajun fiddler, singer and songwriter who founded the Cajun band BeauSoleil from Lafayette, Louisiana.In 2005 Doucet was one of 12 recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA award, which recognizes artistic excellence, cultural...
of
BeauSoleilBeauSoleil is an American musical group specializing in Cajun music. Based in Lafayette, Louisiana, the group members are brothers Michael Doucet and David Doucet , Jimmy Breaux , Billy Ware , Tommy Alesi , and Mitchell Reed .-Band history:Founded in 1975, BeauSoleil BeauSoleil (French, beautiful...
on violin,
Wayne ToupsWayne Toups is one of the most commercially successful American Cajun singers. He is also a songwriter.-Biography:...
on accordion, and even banjo. Even though some recording for the album was done in remote locations, the bulk of
Astronauts And Heretics was recorded at
NRG Recording StudiosNRG Recording Studios is a recording facility located in North Hollywood, California that was created by producer and mixer Jay Baumgardner in 1992.- Facilities :*Studio A console: custom vintage Neve 8068 built by Pat Schneider...
with input from trusted Dolby co-producer Bill Bottrell, and mixed down at Smoke Tree Studios in Chatsworth, California.
The Sole Inhabitant
Following his involvement in Beatnik Inc, Dolby returned to his musical career in 2006. He performed his first solo public show in 15 years at the Red Devil Lounge in
San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
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, comprising a string of small dates in California, a mall opening in
Boulder, ColoradoBoulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
, and gigs across America before receptive crowds.
The United States leg of the "Sole Inhabitant Tour 2006" was captured on a "live" CD and DVD. The CD represents a recording of two gigs played by Dolby at Martyrs in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, while the DVD was filmed at the Berklee Performance Center at
Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
. The DVD also includes a 30-minute interview, and a lecture by Dolby at the Berklee College Of Music. Both the CD and DVD were released in November 2006, and are distributed through
CD BabyCD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
and
iTunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. Dolby autographed and numbered the first 1,000 copies of the CD and DVD.
A show at the 800 capacity
ScalaScala is a nightclub in London, England, near King's Cross railway station.-History:The Scala was originally built as a cinema to the designs of H Courtney Constantine, but construction was interrupted by the First World War and it spent some time being used to manufacture aircraft parts, and as a...
club in London was booked for July 3, 2006 as a warm-up for Dolby's Hyde Park set opening for
Depeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
. The show sold out in a matter of days and prompted Dolby to reprioritise the UK, resulting in him moving with his family from California back to England, and a nine-date Sole Inhabitant tour of the UK in October 2007, coinciding with the release of a lavish box set of the Sole Inhabitant CD and DVD by UK independent label
Invisible Hands MusicInvisible Hands Music is an independent record label based in London's Camden Town neighbourhood. The label was founded by musician Charles Kennedy. The company name first appeared on cassettes sold at gigs by Kennedy's first band Night World in 1987. The first CD release was Fretwork Southeast, a...
.
Thomas toured throughout the months of November and December 2006 with electronic musician BT. This tour included a version of "Airwaves" that BT added his own technique to, which was the opening song on the UK leg of the Sole Inhabitant tour (
sans BT).
Thomas Dolby's March 15, 2007 performance at the SxSW festival was released as the live EP "Thomas Dolby & The Jazz Mafia Horns, Live at SxSW" (with musicians from San Francisco's
Jazz MafiaThe Jazz Mafia is a young American musical collective that incorporates smaller ensembles in a larger family, based in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, that writes, plays, and arranges Jazz music while incorporating genres such as: electronica, soul, funk, big band,...
collective, through iTunes and on
CD BabyCD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
.)
The 2007 UK Sole Inhabitant tour included three new songs previously played on the US tour, one called "Your Karma Hit My Dogma" another called "Jealous Thing" and a cover version of The Special AKA's "What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend". "Your Karma Hit My Dogma" was inspired by
Kevin FederlineKevin Earl Federline is an American dancer, rapper, fashion model, and actor. Previously engaged to actress Shar Jackson, Federline is best known for his two-year marriage to pop singer Britney Spears...
's unauthorised use of a sample from
Mobb DeepMobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...
's "
Got It Twisted"Got It Twisted" is the first single from Mobb Deep's Amerikaz Nightmare album, produced by The Alchemist. It samples the 1980s hit "She Blinded Me With Science" by Thomas Dolby....
" which in turn had used an authorised sample of "She Blinded Me with Science". The tag-line from that story became the title of the song. The wording was lifted by Thomas from a bumper sticker on a car that he saw whilst living in the San Francisco Bay area. In a move close to performance art, Dolby tried to post a 'cease and desist' legal letter on Kevin Federline's
MySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page when other attempts to contact him proved fruitless. The song is on the
Live at SxSW EP.
The second new song, "Jealous Thing" was performed at least at The Graduate in Cambridge and London's Islington Academy on the UK tour in Summer 2007 and features a Bossa-Nova type rhythm.
2009 Re-Issues
A CD + DVD set entitled
The Singular Thomas Dolby has been released by
EMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
on May 18, 2009. As the name suggests it is a digitally remastered compilation of previously released singles. The DVD contains all the video singles which were available on the original VHS/BETA/LASERDISC release of
The Golden Age Of Video, as well as the videos for the songs "Silk Pyjamas", "I Love You Goodbye", and "Close But No Cigar". These three missing videos are for the singles taken from the 1992 album
Astronauts & Heretics, which received critical acclaim but which garnered unimpressive sales.
The Golden Age Of Wireless and
The Flat Earth were reissued and remastered later that year with numerous previously unreleased bonus tracks. The former was a two disc set including a DVD of the complete "Live Wireless" video.
A Map Of The Floating City
In 2010 Dolby began work on a new studio album entitled
A Map of the Floating CityA Map of the Floating City is the fifth studio album by English musician Thomas Dolby, released on 24 October 2011. It is his first full-length studio album since 1992's Astronauts & Heretics....
. The album is divided into three parts, with the first two parts initially made available to members of The Flat Earth Society, Dolby's online community. Each of the three digital EPs takes its name from one of the three sections of the full-length album that later followed. The first EP,
Amerikana, was released digitally on June 16, 2010. The second EP is entitled
Oceanea, and was released on November 29, 2010. Due to favorable reviews and radio airplay,
Oceanea was released commercially on March 28, 2011. The third section of the album, entitled
Urbanoia, was not released as a download or physical CD, but the songs were premiered online as part of the Floating City game (see below).
Contributors to the album include
Kevin ArmstrongKevin Armstrong was a renowned dual player who excelled at football and hurling for his local club O’Connell’s and for the Antrim senior inter-county teams in both codes from the 1940s until the 1960s....
,
Matthew SeligmanMatthew Seligman is an English bassist who took part of the new wave scene in the 1970s and the 1980s, best known as a member of the Soft Boys.-Biography:...
(both had played together with him on
The Flat Earth and as part of David Bowie's
Live AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
appearance),
Bruce WoolleyBruce Woolley is an English writer, performer, record producer and composer.- Early years :Bruce Woolley was born in Loughborough, England on 11 November 1953 and was educated at Loughborough Grammar School where he learned electric guitar, began to write songs and where he met his future wife,...
, drummer
Liam GenockeyLiam Genockey is an Irish drummer.Liam Genockey was born in Dublin, Ireland. During the 1960s he lived in Plymouth, Devon, U.K, playing in local semi-pro groups, then in the early 70's playing with Torbay based rock band Adolphus Rebirth...
, guitarist
Mark KnopflerMark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
of Dire Straits,
Regina SpektorRegina Ilyinichna Spektor is a Russian American singer-songwriter and pianist. Her music is associated with the anti-folk scene centered in New York City's East Village.-Early life:...
,
Natalie MacMasterNatalie MacMaster, CM is an award-winning fiddler from the rural community of Troy in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada who plays Cape Breton fiddle music....
,
Eddi ReaderEddi Reader MBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts...
, and
Imogen HeapImogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
.
In a 2010 press release he was quoted as saying:
A Map Of The Floating City was recorded in the "Nutmeg Of Consolation", Dolby's recording studio built within a 1930s lifeboat and powered entirely by renewable energy, which is located in the garden of Dolby's beach house on England's North Sea coast.
Map Of The Floating City game
In June 2011 Dolby announced the
Map Of The Floating City game, a multiplayer online game that shares a title with the full-length album release planned to follow after the game's conclusion. In Dolby's own words, "The Floating City is set against a dystopian vision of the 1940s that might have existed had WWII turned out a lot differently." Survivors explore a fictional Google map, forming tribes and trading relics amidst a bizarre sea-going barter society. As they struggle to unravel the enigma that is The Floating City, players can haggle over merchandise and music downloads — including brand new songs from
A Map of the Floating City, Dolby’s first album in 20 years, scheduled to be released following the climax of the game." The game was played from June through August 2011, and included elements of trading, mystery, competition, and cooperation. Players earned free song downloads, and the winning team or "tribe" was awarded a private performance from Dolby.
Tour news 2011
Thomas has announced he will be making a couple of concert appearances at the end of July.
- July 27 or 28th — Possible ‘secret’ public dress rehearsal in or near London. TBA
- July 29 — Vintage Festival, Royal Festival Hall, London with Heaven 17, One Two, Mirrors and Recoil.
- July 30 — Green Gathering 2011, Chepstow, Monmouthsire
Thomas will be performing again with Union Chapel cohorts 'The Pirate Twins'. Featuring a short electronic set of some 80s classics and possibly a sneak preview of a track from the forthcoming album 'A Map of the Floating City'.
Lineup:
- Thomas Dolby — keyboards, vocals
- Andrew Down — keyboards
- Darren Goldsmith — bass, synth
- Mat Hector — electronic drums, samples
Thomas says, "'Feels like it’s time to warm up my gig chops and start thinking about a full scale tour! I expect to be doing around 20 shows in the US and a half dozen in the UK before the end of the year. I’d love to also visit Australia, Japan and Europe, but this depends on a number of factors."
Professional music career beginnings
Early in his career, Dolby played keyboards with
Bruce WoolleyBruce Woolley is an English writer, performer, record producer and composer.- Early years :Bruce Woolley was born in Loughborough, England on 11 November 1953 and was educated at Loughborough Grammar School where he learned electric guitar, began to write songs and where he met his future wife,...
and the Camera Club and is credited on their debut album. The instrumental track "WW9" in the album 'English Garden' is the first recorded example of Thomas' writing. He also wrote
Lene LovichLene Lovich is an American singer based in England, who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her most popular hit single was "Lucky Number", first released in 1979.-Early years:...
's hit single "New Toy" and played keyboard as part of the backing band for her tour. Dolby played some synthesizer parts on the
Thompson TwinsThe Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
album
Set and co-wrote "Magic's Wand" with
WhodiniWhodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...
, and played keyboards on one track ("Love") on
Robyn HitchcockRobyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
's first solo album, 1981's
Black Snake Diamond RoleBlack Snake Dîamond Röle was the debut solo album by former Soft Boys frontman Robyn Hitchcock.Backed on various tracks by his former Soft Boy mates Kimberley Rew, Matthew Seligman and Morris Windsor, Hitchcock confessed satisfaction at being able to record an album with only his own artistic goals...
. Around this time, he also formed a short-lived band called
The Fallout ClubThe Fallout Club was a British synthpop and New Wave band formed by Irish singer Trevor Herion, the experimental drummer Paul Simon, future successful Thomas Dolby on keyboards, and bassist Matthew Seligman in 1981...
.
By far the most significant session relationship for Thomas in the early days was when he contributed the signature synthesizer sound on the track "Urgent" on
ForeignerForeigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
's 1981 album
4-Foreigner:*Lou Gramm – Lead vocal, percussion*Mick Jones – guitar, keyboards, background vocal*Rick Wills – bass, background vocal*Dennis Elliott – drums, vocals, background vocal-Additional personnel:...
. On the same album he played the atmospheric synthesizer intro to the mega-hit "
Waiting for a Girl Like You"Waiting for a Girl like You" is a song by British-American rock band Foreigner. The distinctive synthesizer theme was performed by the then-unknown Thomas Dolby.-Chart performance:...
". The fees from this work, including tour dates, bankrolled the studio time for the recording of the 1980s benchmark album
The Golden Age of WirelessThe Golden Age of Wireless is a 1982 album by Synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby. The album is notable for containing the pop hit "She Blinded Me with Science" in its later resequencings...
from which his solo career began.
Dolby also worked as session keyboard player on
Def LeppardDef Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
's 1983
PyromaniaPyromania is the third studio album by British rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983. It featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album charted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and #18 on the UK Albums Chart.The album was partially recorded with...
album. Dolby appeared on
Pyromania using the
aliasA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Booker T. Boffin, as his affiliation to another record label restricted the use of his real name.
1985 Grammy Awards and Live Aid
In 1985, Dolby appeared at the Grammy Awards, which were televised, along with
Stevie WonderStevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
,
Herbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, and
Howard JonesHoward Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...
. All four musicians were successful in the mid-1980s music scene, and they were also all keyboard and synthesizer experts. That same year, Dolby performed at the
Live AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert in London as part of
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's band.
Other live appearances
In a 1985 news clip about synthesized music Dolby was shown (along with the industrial musician,
Trent ReznorMichael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
of
Nine Inch NailsNine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
fame) with Trent's early band, The "Exotic Birds".
Dolby continued to perform live in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He supported
Depeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
in their
Rose Bowl concert-Disc one:A Side# "Pimpf" – 0:58# "Behind the Wheel" – 5:55# "Strangelove" – 4:49# "Something to Do" – 3:54# "Blasphemous Rumours" – 5:09B Side# "Stripped" – 6:45# "Somebody" – 4:34...
on June 18, 1988. In 1990, he appeared in the huge
Roger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
charity concert performance of
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's rock opera
The WallThe Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
in Berlin. Dolby played keyboards in "
Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)"Another Brick in the Wall" is the title of three songs set to variations of the same basic theme, on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera, The Wall, subtitled Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3...
" (sung by
Cyndi LauperCynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
), and then played the Teacher's role in the sequence "
The Trial"The Trial" is a track from the rock opera/concept album The Wall, by Pink Floyd. The song, written by Roger Waters and Bob Ezrin, marks the climax of the album and the film.-Plot:...
".
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 FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's "Astronomy Domine". "Evil Guy", from that evening's sound-check, wound up on the Soft Boys' 2002 EP
Side ThreeSide Three is a 2006 album by Adrian Belew.It is part of a series of albums. The other three so far to be released are Side One , Side Two and Side Four.-Track listing:All songs written by Adrian Belew.# "Troubles" - 3:14...
. It was not the first time Dolby and members of the Soft Boys appeared on record together. Dolby had played keyboards on former Soft Boys member
Robyn HitchcockRobyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
's first solo album,
Black Snake Diamond RoleBlack Snake Dîamond Röle was the debut solo album by former Soft Boys frontman Robyn Hitchcock.Backed on various tracks by his former Soft Boy mates Kimberley Rew, Matthew Seligman and Morris Windsor, Hitchcock confessed satisfaction at being able to record an album with only his own artistic goals...
. Meanwhile Hitchcock appeared on Dolby's
The Flat EarthThe Flat Earth is Thomas Dolby's followup LP to The Golden Age of Wireless. It was recorded in 1983 and released in early 1984. It peaked at #14 in the UK Albums Chart. The first single from the album was "Hyperactive!", which peaked at #17 in the UK Singles Chart, making it Dolby's...
, performing the role of Keith on "White City". Soft Boys bassist Matthew Seligman recorded and toured with Dolby in the 1980s, including the Live Aid performance.
Dolby also performed a portion of "The Sole Inhabitant" show for the
Bob Moog FoundationThe Bob Moog Memorial Foundation was created after the death of Dr. Robert Moog in 2005, and officially launched in August, 2006. His family established the foundation to honor the legacy of Moog "through its mission of igniting creativity at the intersection of music, history, science, and...
MoogfestMoogfest is a three-day electronic music festival that takes place in Asheville, North Carolina, United States, every year since 2010 towards the end of October. The festival is held in Asheville because it is the city where Robert Arthur "Bob" Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer and...
2007 in New York City.
Other production credits
In 1985, Dolby was credited as co-producer on
Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's album
Dog Eat Dog. He was credited as producer for
Prefab SproutPrefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
's albums
Steve McQueenSteve McQueen is the second album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in June 1985. It was released in the United States as Two Wheels Good due to a legal conflict with the estate of American actor Steve McQueen...
,
From Langley Park to MemphisFrom Langley Park to Memphis is the third album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, and was released in March 1988.The title is taken from a lyric to the song, "The Venus of the Soup Kitchen", and refers to the village of Langley Park, County Durham in England, and the city of Memphis, Tennessee in...
, and
Jordan: The ComebackJordan: The Comeback is the fifth album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in August 1990.- Album :Jordan: The Comeback showed Prefab Sprout continuing their musical evolution from the prickly jangle guitars of Swoon, their debut...
. He also played keyboard on
George ClintonGeorge Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
's 1985 album,
Some of My Best Jokes Are FriendsSome of My Best Jokes Are Friends is the third studio album by George Clinton. It was released in 1985 by Capitol Records. Though it wasn't as successful as Computer Games, Clinton's first solo album, Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends received favorable reviews among critics...
.
Film and video game soundtracks and production
Thomas Dolby has also worked as a
producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and a soundtrack composer for both films and video games, most notably "The Gate To The Mind's Eye", the third installment of the CGI collection, the
Mind's Eye (series)The Mind's Eye series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication. The series began in 1990. It was produced by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions & Miramar Productions...
. Dolby also wrote the songs for the 1986
George LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
film
Howard the DuckHoward the Duck is a 1986 American science fiction comedy film directed by Willard Huyck and produced by George Lucas. It is loosely based on the Marvel comic book of the same name, created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo, the film focuses on Howard, an alien from a planet...
and chose the members of the film's fictional band, Cherry Bomb.
Dolby wrote and produced three tracks for the 1992 soundtrack of the animated movie
FernGully: The Last RainforestFernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 Australian-American animated film directed by Bill Kroyer, produced by Peter Faiman and Wayne Young, and written by Jim Cox based on a book of the same name by Diana Young. It is a film with a strong environmental theme...
.
He also created the score for the 1993 Sega CD interactive movie "Double Switch". Additionally, the song "Hyperactive!" is featured in the 2002
PlayStation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
videogame
Grand Theft Auto: Vice CityGrand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
as part of the
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
radio station Wave 103.
In 1990 Dolby played the role of the villain Stanley in the movie Rockula as well as contributing the songs "Stanely's Death Park" and "Budapest by Blimp".
Headspace and Beatnik
In 1993, Dolby successfully established the Headspace company. Headspace developed a new downloadable file format designed specifically for Internet usage called Rich Music Format with the
RMFRich Music Format is a music file format defined by Beatnik. It is a wrapper for audio formats including .wav, .au, .aiff, .mp3 and MIDI. RMF's purpose is to encrypt the data, and to store MIDI together with instrument sounds...
file extension. It had the advantage of small file size like MIDI but allowed recorded sampled sounds to be included at a higher bitrate for better overall reproduction. RMF music files could be played in a browser using the free Beatnik Player plug-in. Later versions of RMF permitted artists to place an encrypted watermark in their files that were supposed to prevent unauthorized duplication.
http://faculty.plattsburgh.edu/timothy.clukey/SoundPg/soundpg5.htm http://www.beatnik.com/pdf_files/rmf_datasheet.pdf In 1999, Headspace, Inc. was renamed Beatnik, Inc., and now specializes in software synthesizers for mobile phones
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GTV/is_3_19/ai_84237143, which it has licensed to mobile phone manufacturers including
NokiaNokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
.
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, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards.
Dolby's musical talents have also been put to use creating hundreds of
digitalA digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
polyphonic ringtones now found on mobile phones everywhere (including the polyphonic version of the infamous
Nokia signature themeThe Nokia tune is a phrase from a composition for solo guitar, Gran Vals, by the Spanish classical guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega, written in 1902....
). He is often a major speaker at technology conferences such as
ComdexCOMDEX was a computer expo held in Las Vegas, Nevada, each November from 1979 to 2003. It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually second only to the German CeBIT, and by many accounts one of the largest trade shows in any industry sector...
,
WebsphereIBM WebSphere refers to a brand of computer software products in the genre of enterprise software known as "application and integration middleware". These software products are used by end-users to create applications and integrate applications with other applications...
, and Nokia.
TED Conference
Since 2001 Dolby has acted as Musical Director of The
TED ConferenceTED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
, an annual event in Long Beach, California that attracts some of the world's foremost thinkers, inventors, and speakers. In this capacity he provides live musical introductions to sessions, sometimes with an eclectic TED House Band, as well as helping secure guest musicians and entertainers for the event.
Awards
In July 1998, Thomas received a "Lifetime Achievement in
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
Music" award from
Yahoo! Internet LifeYahoo! Internet Life was a monthly magazine published by Ziff-Davis, which licensed the name from Yahoo!, the well-known web portal and search engine website. It was created and launched by G. Barry Golson, the former executive editor of Playboy and TV Guide.It dealt with the emerging Internet and...
.
Dolby is member #00001 of the UK
Flat Earth SocietyThe Flat Earth Society is an organization that seeks to further the belief that the Earth is flat instead of an oblate spheroid. The modern organization was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956 and was later led by Charles K...
.
Singles
| Year |
Artist Credit |
Single |
Peak chart positions |
Album |
| UK The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
|
Canada
|
New Zealand |
US The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
|
US Dance
|
US Main
|
US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
|
| 1981 |
Thomas Dolby |
"Urges"/"Leipzig" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Originally a non-album release.
Both tracks later included on original
US pressings of The Golden Age of Wireless |
| "Europa and the Pirate Twins" |
48 |
45A |
— |
67A |
— |
37 |
— |
The Golden Age of Wireless |
| 1982 |
"Airwaves" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Windpower" |
31 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "She Blinded Me With Science "She Blinded Me With Science" is a New Wave song by British musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the UK in October 1982 and was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the second edition of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless. It is...
" |
49 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
49 |
Originally non-album releases.
Tracks later added to all reissues of
The Golden Age of Wireless |
| "One of our Submarines "One of our Submarines" is a song by British new wave/synth pop musician Thomas Dolby. The song was recorded in August 1982 and remains a favourite among Thomas Dolby fans...
" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
17 |
— |
| 1983 |
Dolby's Cube |
"Get Out Of My Mix" |
80 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Non-album release |
| 1984 |
Thomas Dolby |
"Hyperactive!" |
17 |
16 |
41 |
62 |
— |
— |
— |
The Flat Earth |
| "I Scare Myself" |
46 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Dissidents" |
90 |
— |
— |
— |
17 |
— |
— |
| 1985 |
Dolby's Cube |
"May The Cube Be With You" |
82 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Aliens Ate My Buick (CD Version) |
| 1986 |
Dolby's Cube
featuring Cherry Bomb |
"Howard The Duck" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Howard The Duck soundtrack |
Ryuichi Sakamoto
featuring Thomas Dolby |
"Field Work" |
98 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia
(Ryuichi Sakamoto album) |
| 1987 |
Screamin' Lord Byron
featuring Thomas Dolby
and Timothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
|
"The Devil Is An Englishman" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Gothic soundtrack |
| 1988 |
Thomas Dolby |
"Airhead" |
53 |
— |
— |
— |
6 |
— |
— |
Aliens Ate My Buick |
| 1989 |
"Hot Sauce" |
80 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "My Brain Is Like a Sieve" |
89 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1992 |
"Close But No Cigar" |
22 |
— |
14 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Astronauts & Heretics |
| "I Love You Goodbye I Love You Goodbye is the first track on the fourth Thomas Dolby album Astronauts & Heretics. It was the second of three singles to be released from the album and reached #36 in the UK singles chart in July 1992....
" |
36 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Silk Pyjamas" |
62 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1994 |
"Hyperactive" (re-release) |
23 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Retrospectacle |
| 2011 |
"Oceanea" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
A Map of the Floating City |
| "Spice Train" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or not released to that country |
- A Track did not chart in North America until 1983, after the success of "She Blinded Me With Science".
Studio albums
| Year |
Album |
UK The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
|
US
|
US R&B Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
|
| 1982 |
The Golden Age of Wireless The Golden Age of Wireless is a 1982 album by Synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby. The album is notable for containing the pop hit "She Blinded Me with Science" in its later resequencings...
|
65 |
13 |
45 |
| 1984 |
The Flat Earth The Flat Earth is Thomas Dolby's followup LP to The Golden Age of Wireless. It was recorded in 1983 and released in early 1984. It peaked at #14 in the UK Albums Chart. The first single from the album was "Hyperactive!", which peaked at #17 in the UK Singles Chart, making it Dolby's...
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14 |
35 |
— |
| 1988 |
Aliens Ate My Buick Aliens Ate My Buick is the third studio LP release by New Wave/Synth-pop artist Thomas Dolby. It peaked at #30 in the UK Albums Chart. The album's sales were disappointing and reviews were mixed. The lead single from the album, "Airhead", peaked at #53. Second and third singles, "Hot Sauce" and "My...
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30 |
70 |
— |
| 1992 |
Astronauts & Heretics Astronauts & Heretics, released in 1992, was the fourth studio album by Thomas Dolby.-Track listing:All tracks by Dolby and Lost Toy People unless noted#"I Love You Goodbye" - 5:58#"Cruel" - 3:08#"Silk Pyjamas" - 3:38#"I Live in a Suitcase" - 5:29...
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35 |
— |
— |
| 2011 |
A Map of the Floating City A Map of the Floating City is the fifth studio album by English musician Thomas Dolby, released on 24 October 2011. It is his first full-length studio album since 1992's Astronauts & Heretics....
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171 |
— |
— |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or not released to that country |
EPs
| Year |
Album |
UK The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
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US
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US R&B Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
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| 1983 |
Blinded by Science Blinded By Science was a successful 1982 EP by new wave/synth pop artist Thomas Dolby, made up of extended 12" single versions of songs from the 1982 album The Golden Age of Wireless. Four of the recordings had previously been released as two separate 12" remix discs in the UK -- "She Blinded Me...
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— |
20 |
— |
| 2010 |
Amerikana |
— |
— |
— |
| 2011 |
Oceanea |
— |
— |
— |
Compilation Albums
- Retrospectacle: The Best of Thomas Dolby (1994)
- 12x12 Original Remixes (1999)
- The Singular Thomas Dolby (EMI singles CD re-release with DVD of videos) (2009)
Soundtracks
- (as Dolby's Cube) Howard The Duck Soundtrack (split LP, one side by Dolby, the other by John Barry
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
) (1986)
- Music From The Film 'Gothic' (1987)
- The Gate to the Mind's Eye
The Mind's Eye series consists of several art films rendered using computer-generated imagery of varying levels of sophistication. The series began in 1990. It was produced by Steven Churchill of Odyssey Productions & Miramar Productions...
soundtrack by Thomas Dolby featuring vocals by Dr. Fiorella Terenzi (1994)
- The Dark Eye
The Dark Eye is a computer game of the horror genre, released in 1995 for the PC by now-defunct software company inSCAPE. Upon its release the game attracted little attention from either critics or consumers, though it has received some attention since and, arguably, cult status.The game featured...
(inSCAPE) (1995)
As Session Musician
- Foreigner
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
- 4-Foreigner:*Lou Gramm – Lead vocal, percussion*Mick Jones – guitar, keyboards, background vocal*Rick Wills – bass, background vocal*Dennis Elliott – drums, vocals, background vocal-Additional personnel:...
- Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
- PyromaniaPyromania is the third studio album by British rock band Def Leppard, released on 20 January 1983. It featured new guitarist Phil Collen and was produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. The album charted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and #18 on the UK Albums Chart.The album was partially recorded with...
As Producer
- Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
- Steve McQueenSteve McQueen is the second album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in June 1985. It was released in the United States as Two Wheels Good due to a legal conflict with the estate of American actor Steve McQueen...
, From Langley Park to MemphisFrom Langley Park to Memphis is the third album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, and was released in March 1988.The title is taken from a lyric to the song, "The Venus of the Soup Kitchen", and refers to the village of Langley Park, County Durham in England, and the city of Memphis, Tennessee in...
and Jordan: The ComebackJordan: The Comeback is the fifth album by English pop band Prefab Sprout, released in August 1990.- Album :Jordan: The Comeback showed Prefab Sprout continuing their musical evolution from the prickly jangle guitars of Swoon, their debut...
Collaborations and connections
The following artists have worked with Thomas Dolby:
- Akiko Yano
is a Japanese pop and jazz musician and singer. She was born as Akiko Suzuki in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Aomori, and later began her singing career in the mid-1970s...
- Adele Bertei - Duet on Hyperactive
- Andy Partridge
Andrew John "Andy" Partridge is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has been known as Sir John Johns and Melchior and rose to fame as a founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter of the pop/new wave band, XTC. He lives in Swindon, Wiltshire, where he was raised.Partridge also...
- Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
- Dolby played keyboards on Carlisle's album Heaven On Earth
- Bob Weir
Bob Weir is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, most recognized as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead...
- guitar on Dolby's Album Astronauts And Heretics
- Budgie
Budgie is a Welsh Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band from Cardiff. They are widely considered as one of the first heavy metal bands and a seminal influence to many acts of that scene, with fast, heavy rock being played as early as 1971. The band has been noted as "among the heaviest metal of its day"...
- drums on Dolby's Album Astronauts And Heretics
- Brian Salter
- Brian Transeau - Dolby and BT co-headlined a tour together in 2006
- Bruce Woolley - Dolby played keyboards on Woolley's album by The Camera Club; Woolley contributed guest vocals on Dolby's album The Flat Earth
- Chris Braide
Christopher Braide is an English singer, songwriter, record producer published by Sony/ATV worldwide based in Los Angeles.Producer, Songwriter and Ivor Novello ASCAP and Billboard award winner Christopher Braide has achieved considerable success as a songwriter in the UK and the US. His songs have...
- Clif Brigden
- David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
- Dolby played in Bowie's backup band at Live Aid
- David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
- Dolby played keyboard with Byrne as part of the TED2010 house band
- Def Leppard
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1977 in Sheffield as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Since 1992, the band have consisted of Joe Elliott , Rick Savage , Rick Allen , Phil Collen , and Vivian Campbell...
- Dolby was session keyboardist on Def Leppard's Pyromania album, appearing under the name Booker T. Boffin
- Eddi Reader
Eddi Reader MBE is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known both for her work with Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards and has topped both the album and singles charts...
- Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
- Ethel (string quartet)
ETHEL is a New York based string quartet that was co-founded in 1998 by Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Todd Reynolds, violin; and Mary Rowell, violin. Unlike most string quartets, ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances...
- Dolby played keyboard with Ethel as part of the TED2010 house band
- Fiorella Terenzi
Fiorella Terenzi is an Italian astrophysicist, author and musician who is best known for taking recordings of radio waves from galaxies and turning them into music...
, (Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
- AstrophysicsAstrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
)
- Foreigner
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
- Dolby played keyboards on Foreigner's album 4
- François Kevorkian
François Kevorkian, alias François K, is a French DJ of Armenian origin, remixer, producer and record label owner. Having started his career in renowned clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54, the New York City resident is widely considered as one of the forefathers of house...
- George Clinton
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
- Dolby contributed guest vocals to Clinton's Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends album. Clinton also collaborated on Dolby's Cube's "May The Cube Be With You" and appeared in the music video for the song.
- Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
- Dolby was part of the 1985 Grammy Awards performance
- Howard Jones
Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...
- Dolby was part of the 1985 Grammy Awards performance
- Imogen Heap
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
- guest musician/vocalist on upcoming Dolby LP
- Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
- guitar on Dolby's album Astronauts And Heretics
- Jimmy Breaux
- Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist...
- Dolby played keyboards on Armatrading's album Walk Under LaddersWalk Under Ladders is an album by Joan Armatrading, produced by Steve Lillywhite. It spawned the hit "The Weakness in Me", and it was a top ten UK album, although it didn't do as well in the US.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Joan Armatrading...
- Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
- John E. Love
- Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
- Dolby produced Mitchell's Dog Eat Dog album
- Lene Lovich
Lene Lovich is an American singer based in England, who first gained attention as part of the New Wave music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her most popular hit single was "Lucky Number", first released in 1979.-Early years:...
- Dolby wrote and played keyboards on Lovich hit single "Lucky Number" and played keyboards for her on that tour
- Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
- M
M was English musician Robin Scott's brief but very successful new wave/synthpop project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. M is most known for the 1979 hit "Pop Muzik", which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1979, and #1 in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on 3 November 1979...
- Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
- Dolby played keyboards on McLaren's album Duck Rock
- Mark Beer
- Mecano
Mecano was a Spanish pop band whose debut coincided with La Movida Madrileña , a sociocultural movement that occurred in Madrid, Spain during the 1980s...
- Michael Doucet
Michael Doucet is a Cajun fiddler, singer and songwriter who founded the Cajun band BeauSoleil from Lafayette, Louisiana.In 2005 Doucet was one of 12 recipients of the National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA award, which recognizes artistic excellence, cultural...
- Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster, CM is an award-winning fiddler from the rural community of Troy in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada who plays Cape Breton fiddle music....
- Ofra Haza
Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin, an actress and international recording artist....
- Dolby produced and played keyboards on Haza's album Desert Wind
- Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
- The Pirate Twins
- Prefab Sprout
Prefab Sprout are an alternative English pop rock band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham, England who rose to fame during the 1980s. Eight of their albums have reached the Top 40 in the UK Albums Chart, and one of their singles, "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", peaked at number seven in the UK...
- Dolby produced Prefab Sprout albums Steve McQueen, From Langley Park to Memphis, and Jordan: The Comeback
- Robyn Hitchcock
Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
- Hitchcock contributed guest vocals on Dolby's album The Flat Earth and Dolby played keyboards on Hitchcock's album, Black Snake Diamond Role
- Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
- Dolby played keyboards in the 1990 Berlin concert of Pink Floyd's The Wall
- Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
- Dolby collaborated with Sakamoto for the single "Field Work"
- Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
- Dolby was part of the 1985 Grammy Awards performance
- Tata Vega
- Tim Curry
Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
- Thompson Twins
The Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
- Dolby played keyboards on the Thompson Twins album In The Name Of Love
- Thomas Guz Sanchez
- Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....
- Whodini
Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...
- Dolby produced on Whodini's single Magic Wand
Instruments and Equipment Used
The following is a list of notable instruments and the electronic equipment that Dolby has used on his recordings:
- PPG
Palm Products GmbH was a highly-regarded manufacturer of audio synthesizers. Founded and owned by Wolfgang Palm, PPG was located in Hamburg, Germany and, for 12 years from around 1975 to 1987, manufactured an acclaimed and eclectic range of electronic musical instruments, all designed by Palm.-...
Series 2.3 synthesizer
- Fairlight CMI
The Fairlight CMI is a digital sampling synthesizer. It was designed in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual-6800 microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia...
Series III sampler
- Moog Micromoog synthesizer
- Roland D-50
The Roland D-50 is a polyphonic 61-key synthesizer produced by Roland. It was released in 1987. Its features include Linear Arithmetic synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout design. The external Roland PG-1000 Programmer could also be...
synthesizer
- Roland
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
MKS-20 rackmount synthesizer
- Opcode
Opcode Systems, Inc. was founded in 1985 by Dave Oppenheim and based in and around Palo Alto, California, USA. Opcode produced MIDI sequencing software for the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows, which would later include digital audio capabilities, as well as audio and MIDI hardware interfaces...
Studio Vision sequencing software
- Apple Macintosh IIx
The Macintosh IIx was introduced by Apple in 1988 as an incremental update of the original Macintosh II model. It replaced the 16 MHz Motorola 68020 CPU and 68881 FPU of the II with a 68030 CPU and 68882 FPU ; and the 800 KB floppy drive with the 1.44 MB SuperDrive...
computer
- Roland Jupiter-4
The Roland Jupiter 4 was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation of Japan between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for containing digital control of analog circuits , allowing for such features as programmable...
- Korg M1
The Korg M1 is the world's first widely-known music workstation. Its onboard MIDI sequencer and palette of sounds allowed musicians to produce complete professional arrangements...
rackmount synthesizer
- E-MU
E-mu Systems, Inc. is a synthesizer maker and pioneer in samplers and low-cost digital sampling music workstations.-History:Founded in 1971 by Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum, E-mu began making modular synthesizers...
SP-12 sampling drum sequencer
- Linn 9000 sampling drum sequencer
- Simmons
Simmons was a pioneering British manufacturer of electronic drums that supplied electronic kits from 1980 to 1994. The drums' distinctive, electronic sound can be found on countless albums from the 1980s....
electronic drums
- Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
REV-1 digital reverb processor
External links