Oct 25, 20222 min
As we move into winter and World AIDS Day approaches (it's on the first day of December), we thought we'd remember the time when Tom Robinson played a tribute concert at Mildmay in memory of a friend and former patient and volunteer on World AIDS Day in 1998.
If anyone reading this was there at the concert, please let us know and add your recollections to Mildmay's archive.
Born in Cambridge in 1950, Tom Robinson first became known in the late 1970s as a musician and LGBT activist with the Tom Robinson Band who were early supporters of Rock Against Racism and Amnesty International. In 1977 their Top 5 debut release 2-4-6-8 Motorway became one of the landmark singles of the UK punk era. Other hits included Glad To Be Gay, Up Against The Wall and the band’s debut album Power In The Darkness which went gold in the UK and Japan.
As a solo artist Tom had further solo hits in 1983 with War Baby and Atmospherics: Listen To The Radio, and co-wrote songs with Peter Gabriel, Elton John and Dan Hartman. In 2015 he released Only The Now – made with award-winning producer Gerry Diver – with many guests including Billy Bragg, John Grant, Martin Carthy and Ian McKellen. It can be heard in full on Spotify, YouTube and Bandcamp.
As a radio broadcaster, Tom hosts two shows a week on BBC Radio 6 Music. He has won two Sony Radio Academy awards and served as a member of the Ivor Novello Awards committee for 15 years. In 2016 he was awarded a fellowship of LIPA for his support of new music through hosting BBC Music’s Introducing Mixtape podcast and his Fresh On The Net music blog.
In our new hospital building, we sadly don't have a space large enough even for a modest concert performance, but we love Tom and would love him to play for us again someday...