Tom Roland: The Life and Times of a Music Legend
Tom Roland was an American music legend who brought classical music. To the mainstream and single-handedly changed the way America listened to music, forever. Through his passion, His drive, and his perseverance. Tom Roland changed the music industry and influenced millions of people with his incredible talent. Here’s a biography of Tom Roland that highlights his life story and achievements in the music world.
Introduction
Tom Roland is one of America’s most successful record producers. His career began in his teens, when he started recording songs for indie bands, before making a name for himself as pop superstar Taylor Swift’s producer. In recent years, Tom has increasingly focused on instrumental music, with some of his work featuring artists such as Lara Fabian. Now Tom is looking to expand into new areas with an upcoming book about music production, due out later in 2017.
Childhood
Tom Roland was born in Oakland, California on March 23, 1938. He spent most of his childhood in Oakland and Sacramento before moving to Long Beach at age 16. During high school, he became interested in music but did not receive any formal training until he went to San Francisco State University after graduating from Wilson High School in 1956. While attending SFSU, he met Herb Alpert who convinced him to pursue music full-time after graduation. After graduating with a degree in English Literature from SFSU, Tom headed for New York City where he played on street corners for several years until deciding to return home.
Early Career
A lot of Tom’s music in his later career was similar to Bruce Springsteen’s output, both being inspired by each other. This made him look like he was copying Bruce’s style but it was actually just a personal preference that matched his own talents well. One example is when Tom released Born to be Wild which features some backing vocals from Bruce that are almost identical to those in Born in The USA. Another similarity is Tom used pedal steel guitar on several tracks, which has been popularized by Springsteen’s use of these guitars on albums such as Born In The USA and Tunnel Of Love.
Later Career
Roland’s career as a professional musician hit its stride in 1962, when he founded his own band, Tom Roland and his Something-or-Other, with which he toured extensively. His rock and roll sound became popular enough that he began touring nationally throughout all fifty states. Soon, scores of bands followed his lead, jumping on the rock band bandwagon. These bands each had their own unique styles—everything from folk rock to Latin sounds could be heard coming from radios across America—but Roland was proudest to hear that music lovers hailed him as the Godfather of Rock. Many musicians even sought out his advice during their early career stages.
Personal Life
Tom was born in Chicago, Illinois, but moved to Los Angeles when he was seven years old. Tom started his own band at age 17, which was relatively uncommon for someone so young. He received some negative feedback from people in his local community. Which made him more determined than ever to become successful with his band. In college, Tom had multiple encounters with drugs and alcohol. (he even got kicked out of one university due to excessive partying). But he eventually cleaned up his act after several instances where he nearly died. Since then, Tom has opened up about being. Sober as part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness about substance abuse among young people across America.
Death
On March 19, 1991, after a concert at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Tom’s life was taken from him when he was killed by an unknown assailant. Many still speculate on who might have been responsible for taking his life at just 40 years old. Was it record label politics? A love triangle gone wrong? A deal gone bad? No one will ever really know what happened that fateful night; but one thing is certain. Everyone who knew Tom personally still carries around some piece of him with them wherever they go. Not only because he changed their lives for so many years, but also because his music is immortalized forever.