The greatest influence on Tom's music is Stevie Wonder. When Tom was 18 he got to meet Stevie (then 19)in New York City. Tom Pollard grew  up on the beach in the woods outside of New Haven, Connecticutt. Still living on the beach, only now in a warmer latitude, his newest musical companion is a truly gifted and richly experienced walking encyclopedia of Hawaiian Contemporary Music,  who goes by the name, ATA.
Tom’s boyhood experiences range from living in a beautiful ‘Leave it to Beaver’ neighborhood in the 1950’s to the tumultuous 1960’s when he saw his friends on both sides of the bayonet at demonstrations. Growing up in Branford, Connecticutt meant going barefoot all summer, swimming  in the Long Island Sound, enjoying the bounty of his mother’s garden and listening to the jazz greats from the speakers his father would set up in the the windows of their house built in the 1850’s, so that the sounds could be enjoyed outside in the yard. Tom’s father played Jazz, not only on the stereo, but on the baby grand piano enjoyed in their home as well. He tried to take young Tom for lessons at the New Haven Music Conservatory, only to be told that Tom had already developed his own style and that they couldn’t help him.

As the 1960’s built up steam, Tom would catch a ride into town with his folks on their way to work. ‘Town’ would be New Haven and Yale University. By checking the sign up boards outside the practice rooms at Yale, Tom helped himself to the unused time slots to gain access to the exquisite Steinway Grand Pianos. Noone seemed to mind. Outside, in the summertime, folks with the time to catch a free ride on the rails would come up from Georgia and elsewhere to hang out on the ‘Green’. There they would be entertained by Tom and his friend Michael Bolton, singing accapella. Tom got involved in an organization that seemed to be doing good work helping out disadvantaged youth, but then encountered countroversy, as it was the Black Panthers he’d paired with.
            Tom has a friend who knew his way around New York City, ( and lives there to this day) Brad Johannsen. One day Tom was following Brad through NYC when Brad commented that Stevie Wonder was playing “over there” that night. The place he indicated was actually the Copacabana nightclub but by day it looked really burned out. At this time in his life, all Tom did was walk around with Stevies’ “My Cherie Amour” album (also, John Coltrane “Expression”) and try to get anyone he could to listen to it. They tried the door and amazingly, it opened! They stepped inside the red velvet carpet covered interior and tried another door, only to hear Stevie singing “My Cherie Amour…”!! “That’s him!” They ran down the plush spiral staircase and opened the doors at the bottom. Stevie stopped singing and looked straight at Tom who approached and held his hand for some minutes while he went on telling how he thought he was the greatest and he knew God sent him here to make people happy. Stevie let Tom sit next to him for the rest of rehersal and they even jammed together briefly before the bigwigs broke it up.

            After meeting Stevie, Tom went back to the band “Joy” where he’d shared lead vocals with Michael Bolton for years with the annoucement, “We stink”. Even going into the studio in New York City to record for Columbia Records, where Tom’s song, “Going Back To New Haven” was selected as the one they should record didn’t lift Tom’s spirits. Tom left the band and moved to California, which inspired him to write the song, ‘New World”. While playing it at a party one night, he found himself whisked away in a limo to some unknown location to record it. Whoever that was in charge brought in Arturo Perez (Neil Diamond/Redbone) to play drums. Arturo’s comment at the time was that it was his favorite song to play of all time. Fast forward some years (Toms been living on Maui since 1979) His latest projects include working on learning recording techniques and learning from Ata Damasco. He has recorded the CD, “Secret Hideaway” and continues to fine tune his projects.

Read about Ata on Ululoa Productions .