Tom Tom Club

Tom Tom Club was originally formed by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth.Graduates from the Rhode Island School of Design, they moved to New YorkCity where they founded Talking Heads as a trio with David Byrne. Chris playeddrums, Tina played bass and David sang and played guitar. Talking Heads tooka hiatus after five years of touring internationally and four studio albums, andChris and Tina began the Tom Tom Club.

When legendary reggae producer Lee Scratch Perry failed to show up for thescheduled recording sessions in the Bahamas, label chief Chris Blackwellallowed Chris and Tina to produce the album themselves with Jamaican engineerSteven Stanley. Tom Tom Club's first single was Wordy Rappinghood, anunusually original mix of schoolyard rap over a funky groove that went into thetop of the charts in 17 countries. Wordy Rappinghood turned out to beseminal in bringing mainstream attention to the new spirit of hip-hop.

The groups second single was the remarkable Genius of Love. Released inthe UK before North America, the track was bubbling up in the underground withdozens of unsolicited remixes and versions--most notably, Grandmaster Flashs"It's Nasty/Genius of Love" in 1982a massive hit in the clubs and on the R&Band dance charts, soon earning the Tom Tom Club debut a Gold sales award. In1995, Mariah Carey hit #1 with Fantasy, her version of Genius of Lovefeaturing Ol Dirty Bastard rapping over the original instrumental track. Genius ofLove continues to be frequently sampled by various artists, from Tupac Shakurto most recently, T.I. feat. Fergie and will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas.Tom Tom Club continues to celebrate more than thirty years as a band. Lastyear, they performed their timeless classic Genius of Love on NBCs LateNight With Jimmy Fallon. It was a flashback to one of the groups earliestcareer highlights - playing the hit song on the highly popular TV show SoulTrain back in 1983 at a time when it was in heavy rotation on urban radiostations.

In 2002, Frantz and Weymouth were inducted at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.The title track from the new album "Downtown Rockers" pays tribute to themany bands that created the downtown music scene in New York City in the 70'sfrom The Velvet Underground to the Talking Heads. The song was mixed by EdStasium, who also recorded and mixed Talking Heads '77 and umpteenRamones classics.