Who the hell is Tom Lerner?
Tom grew up in a musical family. His mother played piano, and her cousin Ken Lane was Dean Martin's pianist and the composer of "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes," the hit theme song of Dean's long-running TV show. Tom's father learned to play clarinet from his cousin Dave Tarras, a legendary klezmer musician.
Tom began playing the piano at age 5. By 6 he had composed a piano sonata, and at 9 he won a city-wide piano competition in Nice, France, playing music by Bach and Debussy. A short run of clarinet lessons ended when he fractured his clarinet by smashing it onto his bed during a frustrating practice session. (He maintains to this day that Hendrix and The Who "stole my move.") His musical interests shifted soon thereafter, from the classical music and musical comedies favored by his parents, to pop music and jazz.
Tom attended Berklee College Of Music and New England Conservatory Of Music in Boston. Subsequently, after years spent performing with rock bands, jazz groups and big bands, he went to Harvard medical school and got a "real job." Meanwhile he continued his musical life, focusing increasingly on songwriting. He has had songs covered on US major label and international releases, and songs placed on the HBO, Epix, Fox, CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN TV networks. His three solo albums, "Man On The Ledge," "Going South" and “Voices,” are available here and in all the usual online places. He lives with his wife Cynthia in Los Angeles.