Tom Robinson

Tom Robinson (b.1950) is a London-based songwriter and broadcaster.

His first album release was in 1975 as a member of Café Society: an acoustic harmony trio discovered by Ray Davies at The Troubadour folk club in London's Earls Court. The LP sold just 500 copies.

After seeing an early Sex Pistols gig at The 100 Club the following year, he made a rapid change of direction and formed the Tom Robinson Band (TRB) with rock guitarist Danny Kustow. The group were early supporters of Rock Against Racism and soon enjoyed Top 5 success with their debut single for EMI: 2-4-6-8 Motorway. Brief notoriety followed in early 1978 with the LGBT anthem Glad To Be Gay, and a few months later the band's first album Power In The Darkness entered the charts at No.4.

Over the last 50 years Tom's released 14 further albums - both solo and with various bands. He's been mentored by Alexis Korner and Martin Carthy, written songs with Elton John and Peter Gabriel, toured with The Police, Red Wedge and The Undertones, and Rocked Against Racism alongside The Clash, Steel Pulse and X-Ray Spex for a crowd of 80,000. He's also been banned by Radio One, exiled in East Berlin, and hounded by the tabloids for falling in love with a woman.

More recently he gave over ten thousand artists their first national airplay on his BBC Introducing shows for 6 Music and served for ten years on the Ivor Novello Awards committee. At age 75 Tom still enjoys a reputation among his punk contemporaries - and in the world of acoustic/roots music - both as a tireless champion of grassroots music and as a master songsmith in his own right.