Tommy Tokyo, a Norwegian alternative singer/songwriter, achieved national recognition through his second album, Smear Your Smiles Back On, which earned both widespread critical praise and a Top Ten chart placement. Born Tommy Lorange Ottosen on August 26, 1971, in Fredrikstad, Norway, he first picked up the guitar in 1995 and entered the music industry at a relatively advanced age. He assembled the group Piggyback in 1999, issuing the EP Knucklesandwich in 2000 along with several promotional singles, though these releases produced limited results. His solo career began in earnest in 2002 with the Tommy Tokyo EP, followed five years later by the full-length Octopusdrunk & Arms to Prove It on Osito Records. To promote that record he appeared at multiple Norwegian festivals and assembled the ensemble Tommy Tokyo & Starving for My Gravy, featuring Even Juliussen on guitar, André Solli on bass, Fredrik Brarud on drums, and Knut-Øyvind Olsen on keyboards, with Tommy Tokyo himself handling vocals and guitar.
After inking a major-label contract with Warner Music, the band issued Smear Your Smiles Back On in 2008. The album attracted enthusiastic reviews and extensive positive media attention while also reaching number seven on the Norwegian albums chart. Tommy Tokyo passed away on March 22, 2022, at age 50 in Trondheim, Norway, as he waited for a heart transplant.
