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Thomas Dolby
Perhaps best known for blinding us with science, Thomas Dolby has always blurred the lines between composition and invention.
Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher.
Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including “She Blinded Me with Science” (1982) and “Hyperactive!” (1984). He has also worked as a producer and as a session musician.
Dolby is associated with the new wave movement of the early 1980s, a form of pop music 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.
In the 1990s, Dolby founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company which developed the polyphonic ringtone software and created the Nokia tune. Its technology was used in more than half a billion cell phones. He was also the music director for TED Conferences. On the faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University since 2014, Dolby leads Peabody’s Music for New Media program, which enrolled its first students in the fall of 2018.
In July 1998, Dolby received a “Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music” award from Yahoo! Internet Life. In 2012 he performed at Moogfest and was the recipient of The Moog Innovation Award, which celebrates “pioneering artists whose genre-defying work exemplifies the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog”. In February 2018, Dolby was awarded the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award. Dolby has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988.
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The Soul Inhabitant: A Conversation with Thomas Dolby
by Kurt Ellenberger
In my recent article “He Blinded Me With Jazz: The Surprising Jazz DNA in the Music of Thomas Dolby," I explored the sophisticated harmonic language and modal ingenuity that have always set Thomas Dolby's synth-pop classics apart from so many of his fellow '80s hitmakers. After the piece was published, Dolby graciously agreed to sit down for this conversation. What follows is an open, wide-ranging discussion in which the artist himself reflects on his intuitive approach to harmony, the evolution ...
Continue ReadingHe Blinded Me With Jazz: The Surprising Jazz DNA in the Music of Thomas Dolby
by Kurt Ellenberger
I. Introduction Thomas Dolby is one of the most prominent and recognizable synth pop artists of the '80s. His carefully crafted brand as the bookish, bespeckled “mad synthesizer scientist" was perfect for the time period when MTV emerged as a dominant force in the music industry. MTV made the music video an essential part of an artist's success and the primary marketing and branding tool for both the music and the artist. Dolby, like his hero ...
Continue ReadingThomas Dolby To Shoot Live Open-to-the-public National PBS Television Concert In Sacramento, October 20-21
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conqueroo
Concert special will spearhead new phase of awareness for recent album, A Map of the Floating City. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — To support the release of his first studio album in nearly 20 years, A Map of the Floating City, Thomas Dolby continues to immerse his audience. First he created an online multiplayer role-playing game in which players form into tribes to solve puzzles in a dystopian parallel world, trying to earn free downloads of his music. (Dolby launched this at ...
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Thomas Dolby's "Time Capsule Tour" of the US
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Chris M. Slawecki
In the wake of his critically acclaimed album A Map of the Floating City, and the groundbreaking FloatingCity.com transmedia game he co-designed, Thomas Dolby will embark on a 26-date North American tour this March, with a rather unusual vehicle in tow.
The Time Capsule is a chrome- and brass-plated road trailer that seats three. With handcrafted leather and wood fittings, and complex electrical wiring that could have been designed by Nikola Tesla, it resembles a Jules Verne/HG Wells-inspired time-travel machine. ...
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Thomas Dolby Lecture/Performance Mini-Tour Sets Stage for First New CD in 20 Years
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conqueroo
October shows in seven U.S. cities include appearance at L.A.'s Grammy Museum and showcase clubs. LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Thomas Dolby, the Grammy(tm)-nominated British musician and tech entrepreneur, has announced an October seven-city U.S. mini-tour. These solo performances will take the form of a 60-minute lecture about his new social networking transmedia game, The Floating City, interspersed with live songs from his upcoming album (A Map of the Floating City, due out October 25 on Lost Toy People Records through Redeye Distribution), ...
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Thomas Dolby's First New Studio Album in 20 Years
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conqueroo
Release follows conclusion of groundbreaking transmedia game. Guests include guest artists Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Natalie MacMaster, Bruce Woolley and Imogen Heap. LONDON, U.K.—Thomas Dolby, the iconic '80s star whose smash hits “She Blinded Me With Science" and “Hyperactive" helped define the MTV generation/revolution, will break his 20-year silence with a new release later this year titled A Map of the Floating City. The album, featuring appearances by special guest artists Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Natalie MacMaster, Bruce Woolley and ...
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Thomas Dolby Debuts "The Floating City" Transmedia Game
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conqueroo
Iconic synth pioneer dreams up revolutionary way to access new music LONDON, England—Best known as the singer/synthesist behind the Top 5 smash hit “She Blinded Me With Science" and as the co-inventor of the Beatnik polyphonic ringtone engine, Thomas Dolby today announced his latest creation: The Floating City is a rich transmedia game with a living world that changes and reacts to player contributions. It uses web browsers, social networks, and even smart phones and iPads as a way for ...
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Thomas Dolby Breaks 20-Year Silence with "Oceanea" EP
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conqueroo
Featuring Eddi Reader on guest vocals, EP was recorded in Dolby's lifeboat studio. It is a precursor to a full-length album in summer. LONDON, U.K.—Reclusive solo artist Thomas Dolby is preparing to break his 20-year silence with a brand new studio album, A Map of the Floating City, due out this summer. But first, on March 28, Thomas is releasing Oceanea, a three-track EP filled with soaring melodies, intriguing storytelling and vividly cinematic textures. Featuring guest vocals by Eddi Reader, ...
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Thomas Dolby Readies First New Studio Album in 20 Years
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conqueroo
A Map of the Floating City, set for late 2010, will be preceded by three digital EPs.
Guests include Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Natalie MacMaster, Eddi Reader and Imogen Heap.
LONDON, U.K. -- Thomas Dolby, the iconic '80s star whose smash hits “She Blinded Me With Science" and “Hyperactive" helped define the MTV generation/revolution, is preparing to break his 20-year silence with a new album later this year titled A Map of the Floating City. The album features appearances by ...
read more
Thomas Dolby's Fall Tour Enlists Jazz Mafia Horns; Also Announces 'Live @ SXSW' EP
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conqueroo
Fourteen September U.S. dates introduce new material and put new spin on the hits
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - Last fall, Thomas Dolby hit the road and reminded audiences of his early contribution to the fusion of electronic and pop music. He also unleashed a live retrospective album and DVD, each called The Sole Inhabitant. Never one to stay in one place for long, Dolby will return to North American soil this year, but with a twist: He'll be joined by the ...
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Thomas Dolby No Longer 'The Sole Inhabitant,' Heads to SXSW with Jazz Mafia Horns
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conqueroo
Tours behind recent CD and DVD, each titled The Sole Inhabitant, while mounting new material for new album due later in 2007
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA -- If you're wondering what Thomas Dolby has done in the two decades since he cunningly fused pop and electronic music, the answer is in the palm of your hand: Twelve years ago Dolby left music and proceeded to develop the Beatnik software technology used in two-thirds of the world's cell phones. Unlike many performers who ...
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Thomas Dolby, K-Fed Reach settlement in Copyright Infringement Case
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conqueroo
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Kevin Federline and Thomas Dolby have reached an out-of-court settlement in their recent copyright infringement case. Federline, husband of pop singer Britney Spears, made an undisclosed cash payment to Dolby to compensate him for the illegal use of a sample from “She Blinded Me With Science" in the song “America's Most Wanted" which appeared on K-Fed's MySpace page this past Spring and received over half a million downloads.
When asked what he intends to do with ...
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