Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby may not be a name that springs out of the 1980s but This artist had a major influence on the early 80s scene both individually and working with other big acts of the age.

Born as Thomas Robertson but changed his name to dolby as he was always messing about with Musical instruments and tapes and Dolby was a reference to the audio Noise reduction process that was common on stereos in the 1970s/1980s.

 When Thomas did get success Dolby Labs did take issue with the name but ultimately Thomas was able to continue with the name. His first success was the release of the 1982 album 'the golden Age of Wireless' which spawned the huge hit 'She blinded with me with Science'. That particular song featured the well known TV professor Magnus Pyke who also featured on the video promo.

In 1983 he started to work on side projects called Dolby's cube which was concentrating more on Dance Music which was starting to take off. He worked with Lene Lovich and George Clinton amongst others.

In 1984 he released his second album 'The flat Earth' which peaked at number 14 in the UK charts. The album featured his UK top 20 single 'Hyperactive' Towards the end of the 1980s he released 'Aliens ate my buick' a more heavily dance and funk influence but the album did not peak as high as his previous releases.

During the 1980s he worked with other artistes. Prominent work included Thompson Twins album Set, Foreigner album 4, Def Leppard release Pyromania, Belinda Carlisle and also time to produce some of Prefab Sprout best offerings. He also toured extensively and was for a number of years support act for another new wave/tech band Depeche Mode.

During the 1980s he released 17 singles in various guises with one top 20 hit, he also released 3 albums and a notable top 20 success in the UK.