tom willner

My name, in case you haven't figured it out from it being plastered all over this site, is Tom Willner, and I am a musician, singer-songwriter, geek, and cancer survivor. I enjoy technology, but my passion is music, and my outlook on life has been influenced by my experience with cancer. This site contains all my music, show information, news, videos, photos, and merchandise. In addition to writing and performing my own music in clubs, festivals, and private parties, I write commissioned songs and music, score films and video, license my original songs both vocal and instrumental for film and video, perform covers and original music with the band Urban Blue, and write musicals (ok technically I've written ONE musical). I also do speaking-performing engagements, where I talk about my experience with cancer and perform music. If you are interested in any of those things, please feel free to contact me.

If you'd like to see my bio, get hi-res pictures, or see press related stuff, check out my Sonicbids Electronic Press Kit. I've also included two pages with listening suggestions and ways to get my music.

I started playing piano and organ when I was six. I took lessons on both for a decade, often playing music that my teacher and my father wanted to hear. As a teenager, however, I began to experiment with where I wanted to go with music, writing and recording songs, and playing in bands. At college I got an acoustic guitar and taught myself how to play. I performed solo on both piano and guitar, playing open mic nights at local pubs eventually landing a regular weekly gig that helped keep the beer flowing.

After graduating, I got a good day job, but kept writing, recording, and performing at night. I moved from the northeast to the southeast, met a couple of talented musicians who I ended up collaborating with for eight years. I got cancer and wrote a whole album and musical about it. Then, however, I felt a hole, a lack of musical fulfillment that I intended to change. Once again I went solo, and started expanding my ideas about what to do musically. I've scored films, played weddings and fundraisers, and started working with businesses to provide music for marketing efforts and videos. I met Jonathan Coulton, who embraced the Creative Commons license, often giving his music away, and I was moved to do the same. I pulled together the best of my recordings into a new release, called Rescue Me. I've put on my musical and raised several thousands of dollars for charities. I've been compared to Billy Joel, Jason Mraz, and Josh Groban. My songs' styles vary from pop-rock to reggae, blues, jazz, and soul. I encourage you to listen to my music, download, buy, and share whatever you see fit.