47 Facts About Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby has worked as a producer and as a session musician.

Thomas Dolby was the music director for the TED Conference.

Thomas Dolby attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, from 1975 to 1976, where he completed his A Levels.

Thomas Dolby spoke of his early musical experiences in a 2012 interview:.

The stage name Thomas Dolby originated from a nickname "Dolby" that he picked up in the early 1970s, when he was "always messing around with keyboards and tapes".

The name derives from the name of the audio noise-reduction process of Thomas Dolby Laboratories used for audio recording and playback.

Thomas Dolby adopted the stage name "Thomas Dolby" to avoid confusion with British singer Tom Robinson, who was popular when he began his career.

Dolby is unrelated to Thomas "Tom" Dolby, the son of the Dolby Laboratories founder Ray Dolby, and who is a novelist and filmmaker.

Thomas Dolby is associated with the new wave movement of the early 1980s, a form of pop music incorporating electronic instruments, but Thomas 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.

Thomas Dolby's Cube released a single in 1983, another in 1985, and performed soundtrack work for the film Howard the Duck in 1986.

In contrast to the overall introverted nature of The Flat Earth, Thomas Dolby described his next release, Aliens Ate My Buick :.

Thomas Dolby performed his first solo public show in 15 years at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco, California, on 21 January 2006, surprising the crowd who were there to see local band Notorious.

Thomas Dolby autographed and numbered the first 1,000 copies of the CD and DVD.

Thomas Dolby toured throughout the months of November and December 2006 with electronic musician BT.

In 2010 Thomas Dolby began work on a new studio album entitled A Map of the Floating City.

In June 2011 Thomas Dolby announced the game A Map of the Floating City, a multiplayer online game that shares a title with the full-length album release planned to follow after the game's conclusion.

Early in his career, Thomas Dolby played keyboards with Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club and is credited on their debut album.

Thomas Dolby wrote Lene Lovich's hit single "New Toy" and played keyboard as part of the backing band for her tour.

Thomas Dolby played some synthesizer parts on the Thompson Twins album Set and co-wrote "Magic's Wand" with Whodini, and played keyboards on one track on Robyn Hitchcock's first solo album, 1981's Black Snake Diamond Role.

In October 1981 Thomas Dolby made an appearance in the video for the Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin British number one cover of "It's My Party," playing the part of Johnny in the "Judy and Johnny just walked through the door" section of the song.

Thomas Dolby worked as session keyboard player on Def Leppard's 1983 Pyromania album.

In 1985, Thomas Dolby was a member of David Bowie's band for his performance at Live Aid.

Thomas Dolby provided production on Joni Mitchell's album Dog Eat Dog.

Thomas Dolby had previously covered the Mitchell song "The Jungle Line" in 1981 after being inspired by her 1975 album The Hissing of Summer Lawns.

Thomas Dolby wrote in his memoir that he was "probably too much of a brat, with my own blinkered way of working".

Thomas Dolby produced two albums for the English sophisti-pop band Prefab Sprout: 1985's Steve McQueen and 1990's Jordan: The Comeback.

Thomas Dolby produced four tracks from 1988's From Langley Park to Memphis, including the hit single "The King of Rock 'n' Roll".

Thomas Dolby has composed for a handful of films and video games.

Thomas Dolby played the role of Stanley in the 1990 film Rockula.

In 2012, Thomas Dolby learned of the decommissioning of the Orfordness Lighthouse near his Suffolk home, and proceeded to film a documentary, The Invisible Lighthouse, to chronicle the shutdown of the lighthouse as well as his childhood growing up in the area.

Thomas Dolby took this film on the road through the US and UK in the Autumn of 2013, accompanying the film with live music, narration, and sound effects by Blake Leyh.

Thomas Dolby was later approached to create MIDI-based music for WebTV, leading to Dolby composing several key music tracks that were bundled with the devices.

Thomas Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO in 2002, feeling that the business was no longer interesting to him, although he remained on the board.

Thomas Dolby ended business in 2005 and has since been suspended by Secretary of State of California.

Thomas Dolby created hundreds of digital polyphonic ringtones on mobile phones, both at Beatnik and Retro Ringtones.

Thomas Dolby was often a speaker at technology conferences such as Comdex, Websphere, and Nokia.

In 1985, Thomas Dolby appeared at the Grammy Awards, which were televised, along with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Howard Jones.

On 4 October 2018 Thomas Dolby performed a live score for the High Fidelity VR event 'Escape from Zombie Island.

Thomas Dolby performed his first ever full VR concert at the Futvrelands Festival on 17 November 2018, in front of over 250 other avatars.

From 2001 to 2012, Thomas Dolby was musical director of the TED Conference, an annual event held, first, in Monterey, California, and subsequently in Long Beach, California.

Thomas Dolby provided live musical introductions to sessions, sometimes with a TED house band, and helped secure guest musicians and entertainers.

Thomas Dolby stood down from the position in September 2012 to pursue music.

In March 2012, Thomas Dolby spoke at the DESIGN West conference in San Jose, California at the McEnery Convention Center, produced by UBM Electronics.

In March 2014, Thomas Dolby was named Homewood Professor of the Arts at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University.

Thomas Dolby married actress Kathleen Beller in 1988; they have three children.

In February 2018, Thomas Dolby was awarded the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award.

Thomas Dolby has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988.