Description
Thomas Benjamin Banks, OC AOE is a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and former senator.
Born in Calgary, Alberta, he moved to Edmonton, Alberta in 1949, where he has resided until the present day. He presented a show on CKUA called "The Solo Piano of Tommy Banks" in about 1960. Of his time at CKUA, Banks said in an interview, "I'd lurch into the studio on Sunday morning and go and set up the microphone and turn everything on and then sit down and start playing."
He hosted the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television show, The Tommy Banks Show, from 1968 until 1983.
Since his 1950 professional debut, Tommy Banks has, as the Toronto Star pointed out, "... done everything a musician could wish for." MacLean?s Magazine observed that "It would be easier to list the things he doesn?t do." He is the recipient of the Juno Award, the Gemini Award, the Grand Prix du Disques-Canada, several ARIA Awards, and is a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame.
Musical touring has taken him to the farthest reaches of China, to the Eastern Europe that used to be referred to as "behind the iron curtain", and to most points in between.
Born
December 17th, 1936 in Calgary (Age 87)
Last Changes
2024/03/14
Address Removed: Available to members only
2022/02/04
Address replaced: Available to members only
2022/02/04
Address Removed: Available to members only