Islandelights Records Company Profile
Tomy's guitar work reflects the many early influences from his impressions of artists like Les Paul, Albert King, Eric Clapton, & Gabor Szabo. His overall artistry is a mellow blend of country rock to island & tropical jazz funk styles - yet Tomy's earthy vocals & spatial soul fusion sounds are uniquely his creative individuality from years of writing & playing music.His vocals are reminiscent of early classics like Otis Redding and the Neville Brothers, yet Tomy has developed a unique blend of his own rock, soul, and island laments. As an impassioned singer-guitarist, & keyboard man, he's enjoyed writing & playing music in just about every venue one can imagine from military bases & bars to concerts & Carnegie Hall. From his very early roots in the southern California music scene he was already a notable guitarist-singer and successful local band leader with his group Crossfire in the college, club and concert scene sharing the stage as opening act for artists like Jimmy Smith, Gabor Szabo, Osa Bisa, the Sanctuary Band, and Mark Almond. Tomy later relocated to Hollywood was hired to go to Kingston to record and tour with reggae pop artist Johnny Nash on Bob Marley songs, ('I Can See Clearly Now', 'Stir It Up', 'Guava Jelly', etc). This led to working with various reggae, island, blues, jazz, & funk fusion players and artists over the years including Trinidad's Chile Charles & Robbie Greenige, Spyder Webb, and Carol Kaye among others. He eventually landed gigs in Hawaii with artists Willy K, Fiji, Harold Kama Jr., and Kahikina. Having performed the full rendezvous from studios and live gigs in clubs to Carnegie Hall, including network TV shows and concert tours with major & minor recording artists, this relatively unknown earned top 100 Billboard song credits along the way, and wrote & produced for TV/film soundtracks gleaning a 1989 Emmy Nomination. Tomy Gunn now emerges the periphery of sideman/songwriter as a seasoned indie artist of world class merit. He combines an array of musical textures fusing rock, reggae & pop rhythms, and bluesy country songs - experience his unique mesmerizing sound as a solo artist in Hot Summer Nights.
