About Thomas Dolby
Thomas Morgan Robertson , known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher.
Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me with Science" and "Hyperactive!" . He has also worked as a producer and as a session musician.
In the 1990s, Dolby founded Beatnik, a Silicon Valley software company whose technology was used to play internet audio and later ringtones, including the Nokia tune. He was also the music director for TED Conferences. On the faculty at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University since 2014, Dolby leads Peabody's Music for New Media program, which enrolled its first students in the fall of 2018.
Dolby was born Thomas Morgan Robertson in London, England, to Cecil, née Spring Rice and Martin Robertson , an internationally distinguished professor of Classical Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of London, Oxford University, and Trinity College, Cambridge. In at least one interview in the 1980s, Dolby claimed, "I was born in Cairo, because my father is an archaeologist" — many subsequent articles have republished or reprinted this spurious claim.
At school in London, Dolby was good friends with Shane MacGowan of The Pogues and used to sit with him in the back row of the English Literature class. Dolby described him as "extremely smart". Dolby later attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, from 1975 to 1976, where he completed his A Levels. One of his first jobs was a part-time position at a fruit and vegetable shop. In his youth, Dolby lived or worked in France, Italy, and Greece.
Dolby spoke of his early musical experiences in a 2012 interview:
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