The songwriter…
Tom Snow is one of the most respected and recorded songwriters of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. His work can be found in virtually every genre. Artists as diverse as Barbra Streisand, Little Feat, Selena and Ray Charles have performed his songs.
Tom was born in 1947, in Princeton, NJ. In 1965 he entered the Berklee College of Music in Boston with the hope of becoming a jazz pianist. Four years later he had earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition, graduating second in his class. Putting aside his jazz pianist dream he set out to pursue a career in songwriting .
Migrating to California in the summer of ’69, Tom found a job at Viscount Records in Santa Monica. Together with fellow employee Michael Fondiler he wrote and performed songs in the area’s folk music clubs and small restaurants. The two were discovered by Michael O’Bryant and not long after signed to an album deal with an Atlantic Records subsidiary, Clean Records. A year later the LP “Country” was released.
In 1975 Tom signed with Capitol Records as a solo act and produced two albums: “Taking It All In Stride” and “Tom Snow”.
In 1978 he changed his focus from his recording career to writing hits for others. His first BMI airplay award came in 1978 with the recording (by Rita Coolidge) of “You”, a tune he had written for his first album at Capitol. Rita’s version hit the top thirty and Tom’s writing career was up and running.
Working with the cream of Hollywood’s “in-house” songwriting talent and collaborating with a wide variety of artists, he spent the next 25 years building an extensive and eclectic catalogue. Able to adapt to any musical genre while honing his craft as a “tunesmith” he developed the much sought after commercial touch. He also composed for Film and TV and was the composer for the Broadway Musical “Footloose”.
In 1982 Tom departed briefly from his writing career to make one last solo album, “Hungry Nights”, for Clive Davis’s Arista Records.
He has won and/or been nominated for numerous awards including the Oscar, the Grammy, the Emmy and the Tony. Among his many achievements are 15 BMI “Millionaires” awards for songs receiving a million or more plays on radio. In 1986 Tom won the prestigious Robert J. Burton Award for BMI’s Most Performed Country Song of the Year, Dolly Parton’s “Don’t Call It Love” .
In 2000 Tom was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Berklee.
Tom currently resides in Montecito, CA with his wife Mary Belle.
Words from the official Tom Snow website.
Discography
Original Demos
Contante & Sonante 2013
Tracks: Beauty Outside Beauty Within, It´s Not The End Of The World, Time To Be Lovers, Town Of Dreams, You´re Welcome In My Life, I Must Have Been Blind, I Can See Forever, That´s What Love Can Do, We´re All In This Together, Ronnie-O, Love Has A Mind Of Its Own & Bridges Of The Heart.
Musicians on the Original Demos album: Tom Snow, Warren Wiebe, Phil Kenzie & Sally Dworsky, Suzue Benson & James Harrah.
Hungry Nights
BMG Records 1982
Tracks: Hungry Nights, Straight For The Heart, Love Hangs By A Thread, Our Song, Somewhere Down The Road, Soon, Don't Call It Love, I Almost Let You Go, I Think I Know Too Much & Time Of Our Lives.
Musicians on the Hungry Nights album: Tom Snow, Dean Parks, Hadley Hockensmith, Abraham Laboriel, Lee Sklar, Michael Baird, Ed Greene, Tris Imboden, Jeff Porcaro, Jeremy Smith, Lenny Castro, Carol Carmichael Parks, Tom Kelly & Richard Page.
Hungry Nights
Arista Records 1982
Tracks: Hungry Nights, Straight For The Heart, Love Hangs By A Thread, Our Song, Somewhere Down The Road, Soon, Don't Call It Love, I Almost Let You Go, I Think I Know Too Much & Time Of Our Lives.
Musicians on the Hungry Nights album: Tom Snow, Dean Parks, Hadley Hockensmith, Abraham Laboriel, Lee Sklar, Michael Baird, Ed Greene, Tris Imboden, Jeff Porcaro, Jeremy Smith, Lenny Castro, Carol Carmichael Parks, Tom Kelly & Richard Page.
Tom Snow
Capitol Records 1976
Tracks: Hurry Boy, When I Was Young, Doin' It All Again, Rosanna, Rock & Roll Widow, Now You Know, Shoestring Destiny, I'm Only Passin' Through & Here's Hoping.
Musicians on the Tom Snow album: Tom Snow, Elliott Randall, Fred Tackett, Waddy Wachtel, Wilton Felder, David Paich, Bill Payne, Mike Utley, Gary Mallaber, Jeff Porcaro, Milt Holland, Valerie Carter, Tom Jans, Stevie Nicks, Bill Schwartz, Alexandra Sliwin & Joan Sliwin.
Taking It All In Stride
Capitol Records 1975
Tracks: You, Change in Luck, Rhinestones to Rubies, Lovers Holiday, Get Up and Live It, Everybody Lives Everybody Dies, Street Noise, Sign of Affection, Good Beginning & Taking it All In Stride.
Musicians on the Tom Snow album: Tom Snow, Jim Krueger, James Burton, Jim Gordon, Jeff Porcaro and others.
Uptown Hopeful
Overall Music 1972
Tracks: Pioneer, Five Minute Spell, Uptown Hopeful, I´m A Shadow, Lindy Loo, Hey, Don´t Say No, Criss-Cross, Rude Awakening & Come On Children.
Musicians on the Uptown Hopeful album: Tom Snow and others.