Big Tom

Big Tom
Big Tom in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Tom McBride
Born	18 September 1936 (1936-09-18) (age 75)
Origin	Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan, Ireland
Genres	Country, Irish, Easy Listening
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Saxophone
Years active	1966 – present
Associated acts	Big Tom and The Mainliners
Notable instruments
Guitar

Tom McBride better known as Big Tom (born 18 September 1936 in Moy, Drumakill, Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland) is an Irish country music singer, guitarist, and saxophone player. Established since 1966 he is currently front man of the Irish showband Big Tom and The Mainliners. He is affectionally known as 'Ireland's king of country music'

1 Recent Life
- 1.1 Other details
2 Hit songs
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

Recent Life

2000 – Big Tom underwent a nodule operation on his throat.
September, 2004 – Big Tom was reported to have been in a list of Irish tax evaders.^[1]
8 July 2005 – A plaque ^[2] was erected by the local community in Big Tom's home village.
November, 2006 – Big Tom suffered a sudden heart attack at the age of 70,^[3] this had put doubt into whether he would ever tour again with his band.
1 February 2008 – Big Tom began a 12 date tour of Ireland ^[4] after doctors gave him the all clear.
24 March 2008 – Big Tom performed at Castlebar's TF Ballroom's final farewell night (in its current guise) but he was reported to have taken ill on stage^[5] during the performance.
25 May 2008 – Big Tom performed for the closure night of the Galtymore dance hall in Cricklewood, London.^[6]
27 July 2008 – Big Tom was headline act at London's Irish Festival.^[7]
23 November 2008 – Big Tom headlined the Claremorris dance festival weekend.
July 2009 – K-MAC Records announce more dates in Ireland for Big Tom and the Mainliners which commence August 2009.
14 Aug to 13 Sept 2009 – Successful tour of Ireland with large attendances to venues. The highlight being the Glencarn Hotel in Tom's home town Castleblayney where the concert was packed to capacity. The tour ended in Ennis with fans traveling many miles to see Tom and the band. Two days after the end of the tour the band's Trombone player and vocalist Cyril McKevitt died of a heart attack.
8 November 2009– Big Tom will be back in Claremorris to headline the Michael Cummins Dance weekend.
2010 Big TOM announces an extensive series of tour dates
2011 Tom and the band continue to perform with sporadic appearances.

Other details

Big Tom suffers from a fear of flying, in 1980 he undertook a sea voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to record his Blue Wings album in Nashville.

Hit songs

Big Tom has hit the Top Ten numerous times in the pop charts of Ireland:^[8]

Title and Position reached		Entry Date	Artist credited
Gentle Mother	7	30.01.1967	Big Tom and The Mainliners
Old Log Cabin for Sale	4	21.10.1967
The Sunset Years of Life	3	23.07.1970
Broken Marriage Vows	1	19.02.1972
I Love You Still	1	04.01.1973
Old Love Letters	1	16.05.1974
Four Country Roads	5	16.05.1981	Big Tom
Streets of Dublin City	7	15.11.1981
If I Needed You	10	18.03.1984
Jealous Heart	9	07.04.1984

Discography

Vinyl Albums

Prior to 1990 all of Big Tom's audio music releases (over 20 albums) were on vinyl record (or cassette) and are now out-of-print. Since 1990 the release format became CD (or cassette).

Title	Artist credited	Year	Record Label	Issue Code
The All Time Hits of	Big Tom and The Mainliners		Emerald	GES1051
Little Bit of Country and Irish		1969		GES1076
From Ireland		1970		GES1077
I'll Settle For Old Ireland		1971		GES1102
Requests!		1972	Denver	DEB102
Image of Me				DNV 2
Ashes of Love				DNV 3
Smoke Along The Track				DNV 4
Souvenirs		1975		DNV 5
When The Roses Bloom Again	Big Tom & The Travellers	1975		DNV 6
Travel On		1977		DNV 7
I Would Like To See You Again		1978		DNV 8
At The Irish Festival		1979		DNV 9
Blue Wings	Big Tom	1980		DNV 10
Four Country Roads	Big Tom & The Travellers	1981		DNV 11
Songs From Home and Faraway		1982		DNV 12
				DNV 14
Teardrops In The Snow		1985		DNV 15
Around Ireland		1986		DNV 16

Compilation Vinyl Albums

Title	Year	Record Label	Issue Code
Favourites	1980	K-Tel	KLP55
The Heart of Country Music		Denver
King of Country Music – Volume 1
King of Country Music – Volume 2
King of Country Music – Volume 3
King of Country Music – Volume 4
King of Country Music – Volume 5
King of Country Music – Volume 6
Hits By The Dozen			DEB105

CD Albums

The CD releases typically contain tracks which were previously issued on vinyl, however those marked * consist all tracks newly recorded and those marked ** consist of some tracks newly recorded. The 20 Golden Greats CD may be discontinued as all tracks have been reissued on latter CDs.
The Greatest Hits CD includes two tracks taken from the Live at the Glencarn Hotel video. The Live at The Galtymore CD is solely the soundtrack from the video of same name recorded in 1991.
It is intended by Big Tom's record company to reissue all vinyl tracks on to CD releases.

Title	Artist credited	Year
Today **	Big Tom and The Mainliners	c.1990
Greatest Hits		c.1991
20 Golden Greats		1992
Out On Their Own *		1993
The Sweetest Gift *		1995
Songs I Like To Sing	Big Tom	c.1996
25 Golden Greats		1996
Souvenirs		c.1998
Blue Wings (In Nashville)		c.1999
The Irish Collection		1999
The Very Best Of Irish Country		1999
Smoke Along The Track		c.2000
When The Roses Bloom Again		2002
The Same Way You Came In **	Big Tom with Seamus McMahon	2005
Teardrops In The Snow	Big Tom	April 2007
Around Ireland **	Big Tom	March 2008
Ashes of Love	Big Tom and The Mainliners	August 2009
Four Country Roads	Big Tom and The Travellers	August 2009
The Image of Me	Big Tom and The Mainliners	August 2009
Requests		August 2009
Live at The Galtymore		June 2010
I am an Island *		November 2010
Songs From Home & Faraway	Big Tom	October 2011

Tom has also recorded a duet track in 2009 with Frank Nelson:^[9] Treasured Memories which is featured on Frank's album of the same name.

Videos/DVDs

Live at the Glencarn Hotel, Castleblayney
Live at the Galtymore, London
In Concert at the Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
The Sweetest Gift
The Very Best of (Compilation)
Back to Castleblayney, Live
Galtymore 2004, Live
Live in Birmingham and Manchester
Live In Castlebar 2008 (featuring The London Irish Festival)

References

^ Singer Big Tom among tax dodgers in €30m settlements – National News, Frontpage. Independent.ie. Retrieved on 2011-11-16.
^ K-MAC Records
^ BreakingNews.ie – 2006/11/14: Big Tom recovering well after heart surgery. Archives.tcm.ie (2006-11-14). Retrieved on 2011-11-16.
^ The Royal Theatre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland
^ The Mayo News – Big Tom takes ill. Mayonews.ie (2008-04-01). Retrieved on 2011-11-16.
^ news : (Irish News). The Irish World. Retrieved on 2011-11-16.
^ London Irish Festival – Music Acts
^ The Irish Charts – All there is to know. Irishcharts.ie (1962-10-01). Retrieved on 2011-11-16.
^ Big Tom report in the Mayo News. Mayonews.ie. Retrieved on 2011-11-16.

External links

Big Tom's record company

Persondata
Name	Tom McBride
Alternative names	Big Tom
Short description	Singer
Date of birth	18 September 1936
Place of birth	Moy, Drumakill, Castleblayney, County Monaghan, Ireland
Date of death
Place of death