He was a guitarist, bassist and songwriter born in Liverpool, England, who bought his first guitar after seeing The Beatles at the Cavern Club.
His first group was The Inbeatweens followed by The Calderstones which he formed in 1966. In 1967 he replaced Dai Jenkins as a guitarist in the group The Iveys who were later to become Badfinger. He moved to bass-guitarist in 1969 when the band re-organized and played and did back-up on John Lennon’s album Imagine.
One of the compositions he is best known for is “Without You” which was written with his friend and band member Peter Ham. It was recorded and released by Badfinger in 1970 and has since been recorded by nearly 200 artists with the biggest chart successes by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey.
Badfinger disbanded in 1975 after Peter Ham’s death and he formed the band The Dodgers, but by 1977 he was out of work so he went to work as a plumber. He then went back to a reformed version of Badfinger and recorded the album “Airwaves” with them. He split from this band and then he was in another band once again called “Badfinger”.
Following an argument over the telephone in November 1983, about the publishing royalties of “Without You”, he went to the garden and hung himself. He was 36 years old.
Susie Allanson Recording
Without You (Pete Ham/Tom Evans)
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Evans_(musician)
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/375863-Tom-Evans
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4319352.stm
- http://www.host284.ipowerweb.com/~badfinge/SoloBadfinger/TomEvans/TomEvans.html
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-evans-mn0000606811/credits
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Without_You_(Badfinger_song)