Thomas Dolby (GB)

About

Also known as: Booker T. Boffin, Dolby Thomas, Dolby, Thomas, TMDR, Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson, Thomas Morgan Robertson

Thomas Dolby is best known for "She Blinded Me with Science", the 1982 synth pop banger that hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining tracks of the new wave era. His debut album The Golden Age of Wireless balanced themes of radio technology and submarines with genuine emotional depth, and it was far more musically varied than his reputation as a one hit wonder might suggest. He followed it with The Flat Earth in 1984, which showed off a jazzier, more atmospheric side. Beyond his own records, Dolby has always had a foot in multiple worlds. He wrote Lene Lovich's hit "New Toy", produced landmark Prefab Sprout albums, and spent years as music director for TED Conferences. In the nineties he founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley company whose audio technology ended up powering ringtones on Nokia phones worldwide. These days he teaches at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where he leads a program focused on music for new media.