Tom Lowe (performer)
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Thomas Peter Lowe (born 23 April 1978), known professionally as Tom Lowe, is an English singer and actor.


Personal life

Tom Lowe was born in
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
, England to Peter and Margaret Lowe. He grew up in the village of
Mellor Mellor is a surname. Notable people with this surname * Alan Mellor (born 1959), English cricketer * Anne K. Mellor (born 1942), feminist scholar of Romantic literature * Bernard Mellor (1917–1998), British academic * Chip Mellor (born 1950), Pre ...
, on the outskirts of Stockport. He attended Mellor Primary School from 1982 to 1989 and
Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...
from 1989 to 1996, where he performed in many school plays. He sang in the church choir of St. Thomas's Mellor during his childhood and was runner up in the UK wide
Choirboy A choirboy is a boy member of a choir, also known as a treble. As a derisive slang term, it refers to a do-gooder or someone who is morally upright, in the same sense that "Boy Scout" (also derisively) refers to someone who is considered honor ...
of the Year competition while a chorister there. He also appeared on TV while at Primary school with fellow Mellor pupils on the children's show Umbrella, filmed at
BBC Manchester BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) is the BBC's regional headquarters for the north west of England, the largest BBC region in the UK. BBC Manchester is a department of the BBC North Group division. The BBC considers the Manchester de ...
.


UK career


Early career

Lowe had a stint as a
Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...
backing singer during their 1995 UK tour. He was part of the male voice choir, named 'The Wanted Men', who sang behind the group in the encore, and specifically during the Number One hit single at that time "Never Forget".


North and South

He first rose to fame just out of school, as a member of the teenage boy band North and South, along with Lee Otter, James Hurst and Sam Chapman. Lowe played keyboard, saxophone, and sang vocals. The band starred in the BAFTA nominated hit BBC TV series '' No Sweat'', for which Lowe composed the soundtrack at the age of eighteen.


West End career

Lowe starred in the London West End award-winning productions of ''
Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...
'' and ''
Cats The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
'' in the leading roles of "
Marius Pontmercy Marius Pontmercy () is a fictional character, one of the protagonists of Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. He is a young student, and the suitor of Cosette. Believing Cosette lost to him, and determined to die, he joins the revoluti ...
" and " The Rum Tum Tugger". He also originated the role of "Billy" in the West End workshop of Boy George's musical, Taboo.


Career in United States


Harvard

A 2005 graduate of Harvard University, Lowe majored in East Asian Studies, and speaks fluent Mandarin along with four other languages. His ties to the emergent Chinese market are credited to numerous visits to China, many of them sponsored by the Chinese government. Lowe is the Harvard cultural attaché to the
Shaolin Temple Shaolin Monastery ( zh, labels=no, c=少林寺, p=shàolínsì), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin kung fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak o ...
, responsible for training top Chinese film celebrities such as Jet Li. His fellowship at Harvard enabled him to spend four months traveling the ancient Silk Road through Xinjiang and Gansu provinces in northwest and central China, as an editor for the best selling student travel guide ''Let's Go''. His esteemed Harvard thesis on Tang Dynasty frontier poetry won him an honors degree and was contributed to the Harvard Yenching Library following Magna Cum Laude recognition. These cultural advantages, coupled with his first hand, viable experience in the world of pop music and Broadway musicals, has afforded him a unique expertise, for a Westerner, in the commercial Chinese entertainment scene. During his Harvard career, Lowe continued to perform his original material as the lead singer of the band Tommy and The Tigers. The band had the honor of playing at CBGBs, the original New York City hardcore and punk rock club, in 2005. Also during his career, he was selected to sing in Harvard's premier co-ed a cappella group, the Harvard-Radcliffe Veritones, where he was a featured tenor for two years. His vocals can be found on their fourth album, Imprudence. Staying on in Boston in 2006, Lowe was chosen to be the face of Massachusetts, the on-camera host for a webseries of international tourism promotional videos under Tourism
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
. He became the first ever non-American to sing the
national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...
at a
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...
game.


''American Idol''

Lowe became the first non-US citizen to appear on ''American Idol'' when he auditioned for ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...
s sixth season in Seattle. During Hollywood Week's group round, Lowe sang "How Deep Is Your Love" together with
Blake Lewis Blake Colin Lewis (born July 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer and actor who was the runner-up on the American Idol (season 6), sixth season of ''American Idol''. His major label debut album ''A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream)'' was released on D ...
, Rudy Cardenas and
Chris Sligh Charles Christopher Sligh (; born April 13, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and pastor who was a finalist on the sixth season of '' American Idol'', finishing in tenth place. He has released 14 albums since 2001 as a solo artist, ...
, to move forward to the top tier of contestants. His encounter with 'Idol' and ''X Factor'' has proved to be a source for 'Runner-Up', a new Broadway musical he is co-writing, centered on a fictitious reality show. His rendition of "God Bless America" at The LA Dodgers stadium was broadcast on television to an audience of millions.


Musical theatre

Lowe performed in a major production of ''
Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...
'' at the
Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...
, on 8–10 August 2008, this time playing the rebel hero role of
Enjolras Enjolras () is a fictional character who acts as the charismatic leader of the Friends of the ABC in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo. In both the novel and the musical that it inspired, Enjolras is a revolutionary who fights f ...
. In April - May 2009, he starred in '' Back to Bacharach and David'' at the Henry Fonda Music Box Theatre,
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
. In 2010, he opened ''Vegas! The Show'' at the Saxe Theater, Planet Hollywood Casino and Resort
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. As lead singer he paid homage to Sinatra, Elvis, Tom Jones and Elton John. Tom was honoured in 2013 to perform "Empty Chairs At Empty Tables" for ''Les Mis'' lyricist
Alain Boublil Alain Boublil (born 5 March 1941) is a French national musical theatre lyricist and librettist, best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London's West End. These include '' La ...
at the ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards His original album ''Back to Mine'', available on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon, features a collection of original songs in Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, French and English.


Real Life: The Musical

Lowe is the host of the reality television show, '' Real Life: The Musical'', which debuted on the
Oprah Winfrey Network The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN, also known as the OWN Network) is an American multinational basic cable television network which launched on January 1, 2011, effectively replacing the Discovery Health Channel, which one month later merged with ...
on 9 June 2012.
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References

6. ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uP4sFehngyo


External links



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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Tom 1978 births 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English male singers 21st-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English singers American Idol participants English expatriate male actors in the United States English gay actors English gay musicians English male singers English male stage actors English pop singers Harvard University alumni Living people Musicians from Boston People educated at Manchester Grammar School People from Mellor, Greater Manchester