Tom Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is an English singer/songwriter and broadcaster, best-known for the UK hit songs "Glad to be Gay" (1976), "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".

The TRB were produced by The Kinks' leader Ray Davies in 1975 - a working relationship which supposedly ended when, infuriated by Davies' lack of punctuality, Robinson and company sarcastically performed The Kinks' hit "Tired of Waiting for You" to him when he finally arrived at the studio. Davies retaliated with the less-than-complimentary Kinks single, "Prince of the Punks", which is about Robinson.

While continuing his career as a performer, in 1980 Robinson co-wrote several songs with Elton John. These compositions included John's minor 1980 hit "Sartorial Eloquence " 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. He fled to Hamburg to escape his creditors. There, he penned his 1983 hit "War Baby" and recorded his first solo album North By Northwest with producer Richard Mazda. Further income was derived from a cover of his single "Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio)" by Pukka Orchestra in 1984. 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. 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 bootleg known as the Castaway Club series.

Since the late 1980s he has increasingly worked as a broadcaster and DJ on BBC Radio. 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. 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. In the Belgian Castaway shows, he introduces many songs in Dutch. 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, Martyn Joseph,The Bewley Brothers and Paleday alongside personal friends such as Lee Griffiths and T. V. Smith.

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.18 in the UK Singles Chart as part of TRB's Rising Free EP. Although widely assumed from his public posture at the time to be homosexual, Robinson is bisexual.

He has become an advocate for a wider sexuality than his earlier portrayal as only a homosexual campaigner – he is now a husband and father, but still regularly sings "Glad to be Gay", with an additional verse, since the mid-1990s, in which he says "I won't wear a 'straight jacket' for you".

Several newspapers found Robinson's perceived change in sexual orientation amusing, running headlines such as "BRITAIN'S NO 1 GAY IN LOVE WITH GIRL BIKER" (The Sunday People) and "GLAD TO BE DAD" (The Sun). Robinson also complained that many gay rights activists were unfairly critical of him.

Robinson 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.

Life and family

Robinson attended a Quaker school (Friends' School, Saffron Walden) between 1961 and 1967.

Robinson has two brothers and one sister: Matthew (former executive producer of BBC1's EastEnders, currently running Khmer Mekong Films in Cambodia), George and Sophy.

Discography

Singles

• "The Whitby Two-Step" (1975)
• "2-4-6-8 Motorway" (1977)
• "Don't Take No for an Answer" EP (1978)
• "Up Against the Wall" (1978)
• "Bully for You" (1979)
• "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (1979)
• "Not Ready" (1980)
• "Invitation" (1980)
• "Total Recall" (1981)
• "Now Martin's Gone" (1982)
• "War Baby" (1983)
• "Listen to the Radio (Atmospherics)" (1983)
• "Back in the Old Country" (1984)
• "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (1984 - Steely Dan cover)
• "Prison" (1985)
• "Nothing Like the Real Thing" (1986)
• "Still Loving You" (1986)
• "Feel So Good" (1987)
• "Spain" (1987)
• "Hard Cases" (1988)
• "Blood Brother" (1990)
• "Living in a Boom Time" (1992)
• "Hard" (1994)
• "Connecticut" (1996)

Albums

• Cafe Society (1975)
• Power in the Darkness (1978)
• TRB Two (1979) (produced by Todd Rundgren)
• Sector 27 (1980)
• Tom Robinson Band (1981)
• North By Northwest (1982)
• Cabaret '79: Glad to Be Gay (1982)
• Hope and Glory (1984, later reissued as War Baby: Hope and Glory)
• Still Loving You (1986)
• The Collection (1987)
• Last Tango: Midnight at the Fringe (1988)
• We Never Had It So Good (1990, with Jakko Jakszyk)
• Winter of '89 (1992, bootlegged as Motorway: Live)
• Living in a Boom Time (1992)
• Love Over Rage (1994)
• Having It Both Ways (1996)
• The Undiscovered Tom Robinson (1998)
• Home From Home (1999)
• Smelling Dogs (2001, spoken word album)

In popular culture

A 31-year-old Tom Robinson (circa 1981) appeared in the 2008 final episode of series one of the BBC1 drama Ashes to Ashes, portrayed by Mathew Baynton, as the leader of a gay rights protest in London.

Notes

External links

• Tom Robinson's Official Webpage
• Tom Robinson's Having It Both Ways website
• BBC 6 Music's Evening Sequence webpage
• Robinson's blog on the Guardian
• BBC 6 Music's Introducing... Fresh On the Net webpage