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Tom Robinson

The Knitting Circle: Popular Culture

Biography,discography,writing,press cuttings.

British pop musician, singer, songwriter, and gay activist.

Full name: Thomas Giles Robinson.

He was the first successful British pop singer to be openly gay.

In 1960 he was a chorister at Saffron Walden parish church.

He was brought up as a Quaker, and from 1961 to 1965 he went to a Quaker school. He studied oboe, clarinet, and bass guitar. He was also briefly at École des Roches, Verneul-sur-Avre.

His family moved to Teeside. After a nervous breakdown he spent six years, from 1966 to 1972, at Finchden Manor, Kent, a therapeutic community for disturbed adolescents. It was here that he met Danny Kurstow with whom he formed his first groupDavanqin 1971.

In 1973 he moved into a bedsit in London and worked as a publisher's clerk in the West End. He began playing in folk clubs with friends, and he formedCafé Societywith Hereward Kaye and Ray Doyle. He also came out as gay.

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

In 1977 he formed theTom Robinson Bandwith Danny Kustow, Ian 'Quince' Parker, and Preston Heyman.

He wroteGlad to be Gayand performed it on the London Weekend television programmeTeenage Gaysin July 1977.Barry Jacksonwas responsible for putting out 500-issue record of the song. Tom Robinson also performed it at theTom Robinson Band's benefit concert for the Northern Ireland Gay Rights and One Parent Families Association in 1978, as part of his solo set at a Lesbian and Gay Rights March in Washington in 1979, and at the Amnesty International benefitThe Secret Policeman's Ballin 1979. It became a gay anthem and he continued to perform it with updated and topical lyrics. Although it condemned the homophobia of the press and the police, it also admonished gay people for their apathy. A version is published inThe New Gay Liberation Book.

In 1980 he formed the groupSector 27, but it was short-lived and split up in 1981/2..

In 1988 the British tabloid press discovered that he was living with a woman and made a big issue of it. In 1990 he turned 40 and became a father. By the age of 42 he had got married and had two children. This upset some gay activists, but he continued to insist that he was still gay. He discussed this on the radio programmeTalk About Sexin 1992.

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

In 1997 he formed the Castaway Northwest record label. He also won the Sony Radio Award for the BBC GLR radio programmeYou've Got To Hide Your Love Away.

In 1998 he was voted the Out Male Artist Of The Year at the Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA).

• 2-4-6-8 Motorway, October, 1977, with theTom Robinson Band.

• Power In The Darkness, 1978, an album with theTom Robinson Band.

• Rising Free, February, 1978, (EP record), with theTom Robinson Band.

• Up Against the Wall, May, 1978, with theTom Robinson Band.

• TRB2, 1979, an album with theTom Robinson Band.

• Sector 27, 1980, an album withSector 27.

• North By Northwest, 1982, an album.

• Cabaret 79: Glad to be Gay, 1982, an album.

• Listen to the Radio: Atmospherics, November, 1983, asTom Robinson & Crew.

• War Baby, July, 1983, solo.

• Hope and Glory, 1984, an album.

• Still Loving You, 1986, an album.

• Last Tango, 1989, an album.

• We Never Had It So Good, 1990, an album with Jakko M. Jakszuk.

• Living In A Boom Time, 1992, an album.

• Love Over Rage, 1994, an album.

• Having It Both Ways, 1996, an album.

• The Undiscovered, 1998, an album.

• Home From Home, 1999, an album.

• Sing If You're Glad to be Gay, (1979), a version of the lyrics of the song inThe New Gay Liberation Book.

• Tom Robinsonby Gordon Hopps inNow, October, 1999, No. 12, page 15. An article based on an interview with Tom Robinson prior to his tour of Britain in the Autumn of 1999. "e; 'I'm still as gay as I ever was, I still find men attractive. If someone finds the same sex attractive rather than the opposite sex . . . I call that gay. So, from that respect, I'm still as queer as I ever was. However, there was a person that I met and fell madly in love with and want to spend the rest of my life with who happens to be the wrong sex. You can't close yourself off to the possibilities if that sort of thing happens to you'."e;

  "e; 'Firstly, there are several hundred people in the world who can testify first hand that I was gay . . . and still am. The tabloids found it a very good story because their agenda is to say 'straight is better than gay', a gay activist living with a woman therefore proves their point. So they used my life to try and demolish my life's work. Journalists put words in my mouth that were never said but, after 12 years, I still perform at Pride, AIDS benefits and work in the community'."e;

Biography,discography,writing,press cuttings.

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The Knitting Circle

First uploaded 24th. August, 2000.

Last altered 11th. July, 2001