Thomas Dolby

Though his chart success remained limited overall, Thomas Dolby emerged as one of the most visible personalities within the synth-pop wave that defined early-1980s new wave, thanks chiefly to his shrewd promotional strategy. He cultivated an image as a brilliant yet eccentric inventor who had tamed synthesizers and samplers to craft infectious pop and breezy electro-funk. Prior to stepping out as a solo artist, he had already built experience as a session player, technical specialist, and composer, most notably penning “New Toy” for Lene Lovich and “Magic’s Wand” for Whodini. His own career began in 1981 and yielded several modest successes alongside two major singles: the 1982 release “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive,” which arrived in 1984. After the latter hit, his profile receded as he turned increasingly to production work and experiments with emerging synthesizer and computer tools. He kept releasing music through the 1990s, yet by then he functioned strictly as a niche favorite.

Dolby’s fascination with music developed directly from his fascination with computers, circuitry, and electronic instruments. Born Thomas Morgan Robertson on October 14, 1958, the son of a British archaeologist, he originally enrolled in college to pursue meteorology before electronics—particularly musical hardware—captured his attention. At age 18 he started constructing his own synthesizers; around the same period he taught himself guitar, piano, and computer programming. School friends began calling him “Dolby,” after the tape-noise-reduction system, and he later adopted the moniker as his professional name.

During his late teens he worked as a live sound engineer for several post-punk acts, among them the Fall, the Passions, and the Members, deploying a custom-built PA rig on those tours. In 1979 he co-founded the art-minded post-punk outfit Camera Club alongside Bruce Woolley, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, and Matthew Seligman. Within a year he exited that group to join Lene Lovich’s backing band. He supplied Lovich with the track “New Toy,” which became a British hit in 1981. That same year he issued his debut solo single, “Urges,” on the independent British label Armageddon. By autumn he had moved to Parlophone and released “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” which climbed close to the U.K. Top 40.

Session work on synthesizer began for Dolby in 1982. He contributed to Foreigner’s 4, Def Leppard’s Pyromania, and Joan Armatrading’s Walk Under Ladders. Also that year he wrote and produced “Magic’s Wand” for Whodini, one of the earliest rap singles to achieve million-selling status. Despite these accomplishments, 1982 is chiefly remembered for the summer release of his debut album The Golden Age of Wireless; the record reached number 13 in Britain while remaining largely overlooked in the United States. Its opening single, “Windpower,” marked his first U.K. Top 40 entry late that summer.

January 1983 brought the EP Blinded by Science, which featured the infectious track “She Blinded Me with Science” and a guest vocal from the celebrated British eccentric Magnus Pike, who also appeared in the song’s promotional clip. The EP charted modestly at home, yet both the record and single became substantial American successes in 1983 once MTV rotated the video heavily. The single eventually peaked at number five on the U.S. charts and was added to a revised edition of The Golden Age of Wireless, which itself reached number 13 stateside.

Dolby’s second album, The Flat Earth, surfaced in early 1984 and was promoted by the single “Hyperactive,” his strongest U.K. showing at number 17. Although the album climbed to number 35 on American charts, momentum slowed: none of its singles entered the U.S. Top 40. Still in demand as a collaborator, he worked with Herbie Hancock, Howard Jones, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, and Dusty Springfield. In 1985 he produced Clinton’s Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends, Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen (issued in the U.S. as Two Wheels Good), and Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog while also performing behind David Bowie at Live Aid. Film scoring began that year with Fever Pitch. In 1986 he supplied music for Gothic and Howard the Duck, crediting himself as Dolby’s Cube—an attribution that prompted a lawsuit from Dolby Labs and ultimately barred him from using the name “Dolby” except in conjunction with “Thomas.”

His long-postponed third album, Aliens Ate My Buick, arrived in 1988 to tepid reviews and modest sales, although the single “Airhead” registered a minor British hit. That year he married actress Kathleen Beller. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s he continued scoring films while developing and constructing his own computer-based equipment. His fourth album, Astronauts & Heretics, appeared in 1992 on the newly formed Giant label. Despite contributions from Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and Ofra Haza, the record failed to find an audience. The following year he established the software company Headspace, whose first release was the program The Virtual String Quartet. Headspace consumed most of Dolby’s attention for the balance of the decade. In 1994 he issued The Gate to the Mind’s Eye, a soundtrack accompanying the videotape Mind’s Eye, while Capitol assembled the compilation Retrospectacle.

In 2003 he released the live album Forty, initially offered in a signed, numbered, home-packaged edition limited to 1,000 copies before receiving wider CD distribution. A subsequent American tour was captured on The Sole Inhabitant Live Concert in 2006. The Singular Thomas Dolby collection appeared in 2009 alongside expanded reissues of The Golden Age of Wireless and The Flat Earth. A new studio album, A Map of the Floating City, followed in 2011 and included guest appearances from Mark Knopfler, Regina Spektor, Imogen Heap, and additional artists.