Tom Robinson (born June 1, 1950, in Cambridge) is an English singer/songwriter and broadcaster probably best-known for the UK hit songs "2-4-6-8 Motorway" (1977), "Don't Take No for an Answer" (1978) and "War Baby" (1983)

Career

Robinson was the founding member of the Tom Robinson Band (TRB), an overtly political band with several hits in the 1970s, such as "2-4-6-8 Motorway", "(Sing If You're) Glad To Be Gay", "Power in the Darkness", "Up Against the Wall" and "Don't Take No for an Answer". Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both A presenter, or host (sometimes hostess, in feminine form is a Person or Organization responsible for running an event The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located In Popular music, a chart-topper is an extremely popular recording, identified by its inclusion in a ranked list&mdasha Chart &mdashof top A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed Tom Robinson Band (TRB were a British Rock band, established in 1976 by Singer, Songwriter and Bassist Tom Robinson (born Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music.

While continuing his career as a performer, in 1980 Robinson co-wrote several songs with Elton John. Sir Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947 is an English pop / rock Singer, Composer These compositions included John's minor 1980 hit "Sartorial Eloquence (Don't Ya Wanna Play This Game No More?)" which reached #44 in the UK, and #39 in the US.

Later in the 1980s, Robinson fronted and bankrolled Sector 27, a less political rock band which released one album - produced by Steve Lillywhite - and left Robinson virtually bankrupt. A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music. Steve Lillywhite (born 1955 is a Grammy Award -winning English music producer Early career Lillywhite entered the music industry in Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their Creditors Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against He fled to Hamburg to escape his creditors. Hamburg (English, German: ˈhambʊɐk local pronunciation Low German / Low Saxon: Hamborg) is the second-largest city in Germany There, he penned his 1983 hit "War Baby" and recorded his first solo album North By Northwest with producer Richard Mazda. Richard Mazda is a Record producer, writer and musician In his 40's he decided to add actor and director to his skills Further income was derived from a cover of his single "Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio)" by Pukka Orchestra in 1984. The Pukka Orchestra was a Canadian New Wave band in the 1980s The Pukkas' version was a top 20 hit in Canada under the title "Listen To The Radio".

Robinson's mid-1980s return to the UK led to late-night performances at the Edinburgh Fringe, some of which later surfaced on the live album Midnight at the Fringe. The Edinburgh Fringe (officially the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, commonly just The Fringe) is the world’s largest Arts festival. A live album &ndash commonly contrasted with a Studio album &ndash is a recording consisting of material (usually music recorded during stage performances With his various bands and as a solo artist, he has released a dozen studio albums plus a variety of singles compilation albums, live CDs and limited edition, fanclub only bootlegs known as the Castaway Club series. A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a A recording studio is a facility for sound recording. Ideally the space is specially designed by an acoustician to achieve the desired acoustic properties (sound A compilation album is an Album ( Music or Spoken-word) featuring tracks from one or multiple Recording artists, often culled from a variety of A Compact Disc (also known as a CD) is an Optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio The term special edition ( deluxe edition and collector's edition are also used is a term generally used as a Marketing incentive for various kinds of products For fan clubs please see Fan club. Fanclub was a 6-member K-pop Boyband during the late 90's A bootleg recording is an audio and/or Video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority

Since the late 1980s he has increasingly worked as a broadcaster and DJ on BBC Radio. A disc jockey (also known as DJ or deejay) is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927 He has presented programmes such as Home Truths, Pick Of The Week and The Locker Room - a long running series about men and masculinity - on BBC Radio 4, and was awarded a Sony Academy Award in 1997 for "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" a radio documentary on gay music produced by Benjamin 'sticky' Mepsted. Home Truths was a weekly BBC Radio 4 programme which began on 11 April 1998 and was usually hosted by the DJ John Peel until his death A radio documentary or feature is a Radio documentary programme devoted to covering a particular topic in some depth usually with a mixture of commentary and sound He has also worked on Radios 1, 2, 3, 5 Live and BBC 6 Music - where he currently presents his own new music show with sessions and live music.

Robinson rarely performs live, apart from two annual free concerts, known as Castaway Parties, for members of his mailing list. These take place in South London and Belgium every January. South London is the southern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those In the Belgian Castaway shows, he introduces many songs in Dutch. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname 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, Roddy Frame,The Bewley Brothers and Paleday alongside personal friends such as Lee Griffiths and T. V. Smith. Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots and folk duo comprising Singer-songwriter Steve Knightley and Multi-instrumentalist Jakko M Jakszyk (born Michael Lee Curran on June 8th 1958 in London) is a guitarist and vocalist who has played with a number of British groups as well as releasing his own Stoney (born Mark Stoney circa 1980 is a British musician songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Roddy Frame (born 29 January 1964 East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland) was the founder of the 1980s indie band, Aztec Paleday is a six-piece UK Pop music band formed primarily from session musicians and strongly influenced by the Gay scene in London. TV Smith (born Tim Smith 5 April 1956, in Romford, Essex, England) is a British Punk rock Singer songwriter

Advocacy

Robinson was an outspoken advocate of the gay rights movement in the 1970s and perhaps his best known song is "Glad to be Gay", originally written for a Pride rally in London in 1976, and which reached No. Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender social movements share related goals of social acceptance of Homosexuality, Bisexuality and Transgenderism Lesbian LGBT pride or gay pride refers to a world wide movement and philosophy asserting that LGBT ( Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. 18 in the UK Singles Chart as part of TRB's Don't Take No For An Answer EP. The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC on behalf of the British record industry An extended play ( EP) is a Vinyl record, CD, or Music download which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify

He has become an advocate for a wider sexuality than his earlier portrayal as only a homosexual campaigner allowed – marrying a woman and starting a family. Sexual orientation is believed to refer to "an enduring pattern of emotional romantic and/or sexual attractions to men women or both sexes Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. ^[1] The family newspapers found this exceptionally amusing, with headlines such as "BRITAIN'S NO 1 GAY IN LOVE WITH GIRL BIKER" (The Sunday People) and "GLAD TO BE DAD" (The Sun). The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper owned by the Trinity Mirror Group The Sun is a Tabloid daily newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the highest circulation of any daily English-language Robinson maintains that he suffered abuse from homosexual activists as a result. His last studio album Having It Both Ways (1996) included a short hidden track at the end of the record, sung a cappella to the tune of his earlier hit "Glad To be Gay", in which he sings about having spent 21 years fighting for gay liberation, ending with the line "I'm not gonna wear. A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment . . a 'straight' jacket for you".

He is currently scheduled to play at the 30 year anniversary of Rock Against Racism at the Hackney Empire

He is also an enthusiastic proponent of Apple computers, which he has used extensively since the mid 1980s and in 1999/2000 was involved in celebrity seminar work for Apple to promote their home video editing software iMovie. Rock Against Racism ( RAR) was a campaign set up in the United Kingdom by Red Saunders, Roger Huddle and others in winter 1976 The Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street in the London Borough of Hackney, built in 1901 as a Music hall. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics iMovie is a Video editing software application which allows Mac users to edit their own home movies

Life and Family

Robinson attended a Quaker school (Friends School Saffron Walden) between 1961 and 1967. Friends' School is an independent fee-paying school ( Public School) located in Saffron Walden, Essex, situated approximately 12 miles south of the

Robinson has two brothers and one sister: Matthew (former exectuve producer of BBC1's EastEnders), George and Sophy. Matthew Robinson or Matt Robinson may refer to Matthew Robinson 2nd Baron Rokeby (1712-1800 English noble Matthew Robinson (athlete EastEnders is a most popular and award-winning Television Soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC1 on 19 February 1985

Discography

Notes

External links

• Tom Robinson's Official Webpage
• BBC 6 Music's Evening Sequence webpage
• Robinson's blog on the Guardian