Early publicity implied that 'Dolby' was a middle name, and that the artist's full name was Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson this is not true, but he does sometimes informally go by the initials TMDR.Īfter the release of 'She Blinded Me With Science', Dolby Laboratories expressed concern regarding the musician's stage name. Later, when Thomas was 18 or 19 years old, British singer Tom Robinson was popular, so the then-Thomas Robertson chose to adopt the stage name 'Thomas Dolby' to avoid confusion. Thomas was always messing around with keyboards and tapes and the like, so his friends nicknamed him Dolby, which came from the name Dolby Laboratories. The Thomas Dolby stage name originated from a nickname that Thomas picked up around the age of 13. The first electronic instruments started to become accessible in the mid-70s and I got my hands on a kit built synthesizer and never looked back.' He married actress Kathleen Beller in 1988 they have three children together.ĭolby is member No. 00001 of the current incarnation of the Flat Earth Society. I picked up the guitar initially, playing folk tunes – Dylan – then I graduated to piano when I got interested in jazz, listening to people like Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, and so on. 'I sang in a choir when I was 10 or 11, and learned to sightread single lines, but other than that I don't have a formal education. Thomas Dolby spoke of his early musical experiences in a 2012 interview: He attended Abingdon School in 1975-1976, completing his A Levels while there. His father, Martin Robertson, was an internationally distinguished professor of classical Greek art and archaeology at the University of London and Oxford University, and in his youth Thomas lived or worked in France, Italy and Greece. Robertson was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s press releases that reported his birthplace as Cairo, Egypt. 5 Film and video game soundtracks and production.4.1 Professional music career beginnings.4 Studio and live performance collaborations.

Thomas dolby albums