Tom's childhood started as a Navy brat living in various places around the world. His audiophile father often listened to a wide variety of music to get the full experience of his electronic equipment. Ever awkward and introverted, with ever changing friends due to the military life style, he found an old Bontempi organ and taught himself chords from his parents' Christmas carol and Beatles songbooks (separate books, it wasn't a Beatles/Christmas combo). In the 3rd grade he picked up trumpet, but the next two schools he moved to didn't teach instruments at such a young age, so he was once again forced to teach himself. As he moved on to Casio and Yamaha portable keyboards, he wanted to learn more and started playing with his dad's acoustic 12 string, which shredded his fingertips, but gave him the callouses and hand strength he would need to play multiple other instruments.
An avid music collector, he was asked to be a club DJ, which fueled his passion for learning other styles of music. His shy and backward nature made him feel left out in social situations and on the rare occasion he found himself in a relationship, it usually led to heartbreak, which was a catalyst for his writing.
Plagued with health problems for much of his life, he would turn to his instruments for comfort. However, when diagnosed with cancer, he was limited in what instruments he could play due to post surgery lifting limits. After his form of chemotherapy treatment left him with cognitive changes, he turned ever more to his writing to express his feelings from the emotional and neurological side effects of his journey and his reflections on life.
One day while talking to a nurse friend, they spotted his learning difficulties and urged him to get diagnosed. That one moment helped him to address things that had been going on in his life and push him to release the music he’s been keeping to himself.