Tom Maxwell (singer)
| Tom Maxwell | |
|---|---|
Tom Maxwell at South By Southwest 2014
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Thomas Edward Maxwell |
| Born |
September 19, 1965 (age 51) Fort Lauderdale, Florida |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, writer |
| Years active | 1986 - present |
| Labels | Merge, Mammoth, Moist/Baited Breath |
| Associated acts | Squirrel Nut Zippers, Tom Maxwell and The Minor Drag, What Peggy Wants, Metal Flake Mother, Teasing the Korean, Nut Magnet |
| Website | www |
| Notable instruments | |
| Guitar, drums, baritone saxophone | |
Thomas Edward Maxwell (born September 19, 1965) is an American songwriter, musician, vocalist, and writer. Most notably Maxwell is the former lead singer of the swing revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers. He wrote the single "Hell" from the 1996 certified platinum album Hot.
Thomas Edward Maxwell was born to Joseph Maxwell and Nancy (Miller) Maxwell in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in September 1965. In 1972 their family moved to Burnsville, North Carolina.
In elementary school Maxwell began playing alto sax, and at the age of fourteen he taught himself to play the drums. When he was seventeen he left home to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he started his first band, Teasing the Korean, with fellow UNC classmate John Ensslin. In 1990, Teasing the Korean became What Peggy Wants, and they were signed to a local Chapel Hill label, Moist/Baited Breath. In December 1993, What Peggy Wants broke up.
During his time in What Peggy Wants, Maxwell befriended Metal Flake Mother drummer Jimbo Mathus. In 1992, until Metal Flake Mother disbanded, Mathus became lead guitarist and Maxwell briefly joined as the band's drummer. In 1993, Mathus, along with Mathus' then girlfriend Katherine Whalen, Ken Mosher, Don Raleigh, and Chris Phillips, formed the neo-swing, pre-war jazz revival group Squirrel Nut Zippers. They played a couple of local shows and recorded a three-track EP on Merge Records, Roasted Right. In January 1994, Maxwell was asked to join the band.
The band signed with Mammoth Records in the summer of 1994. They recorded their first record, The Inevitable, a few months later in Hillsborough, North Carolina. In the summer of 1995, Maxwell, Mosher, and Mathus took a trip to New Orleans, Louisiana to visit their friend, Blind Melon drummer Glen Graham. Graham had been recording Soup with Blind Melon at Daniel Lanois' Kingsway Studios earlier that year.
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Wikipedia