Thomas Lauderdale is one of the most popular and richest Musician who was born on July 14, 1970 in Oakland, United States. He has performed solo in a number of orchestras and ensembles including Oregon Symphony, Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony and Portland Youth Philharmonic, the Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest as well as The Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland and the Oregon Ballet Theatre (where he worked alongside choreographer James Canfield and visual artists Storm Tharp and Malia Jensen to create a ballet that was that was based on the original tale of Bambi which was created by Felix Salten in 1923).
Within Portland, Oregon, Lauderdale began his studies with Sylvia Killman in 1982. Killman as well as Lauderdale are still close. Lauderdale was the winner of the annual Oregon Symphony Corbett Competition in 1985, that marked the beginning of a lengthy collaboration together with conductor Norman Leyden. Lauderdale graduated from the Portland’s Ulysses S. Grant High School in 1988, when he served as student body president as well as the editorial director for the newspaper The Grantonian. Lauderdale was a student at Harvard University, where he was awarded a cumlaude diploma with honors in History and English Literature.
After seeing the Del Rubio Triplets on Pee-Wee Herman’s Christmas Special, Lauderdale arranged for them to travel to Portland in October 1994 to give a series of concerts at retirement homes, nursing homes, and hospitals. After a week of performances and appearances, the Del Rubio Triplets performed at a fundraising concert at Cinema 21 in Northwest Portland. Stuck for an opening act for the group, Lauderdale threw on a Betsey Johnson cocktail dress, and joined by a bass player, a bongo player, and a singer, took to the stage as Pink Martini.
Pink Martini has released seven studio albums and one live concert DVD on the band’s own record label, Heinz Records and partnered with other labels worldwide, including Naïve Records in France, Wrasse Records in the United Kingdom and South America, Audiogram in Canada, Urtext in Mexico, Random Records in Argentina and Chile, Inertia Recordings in Australia and New Zealand, Ales in Korea, and Top 2 in Southeast Asia. The band’s debut album Sympathique was released in 1997, and received nominations for “Song of the Year” and “Best New Artist” in France’s Victoires de la Musique awards. Sympathique (1997), Hang on Little Tomato (2004), and Hey Eugene! (2007), Splendor In The Grass (2009) and Joy To The World (2010) have all gone gold in France, Turkey, Greece, and Canada selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide.
The year 1976 was the time that his dad quit from the ministry, and the Lauderdale family established an organic plant nursery in North Manchester. The family relocated in Portland, Oregon, in 1982 after his parents divorced and their father left the closet. In the 90s the couple appeared on a variety of talk shows – such as 20/20 Oprah, Jane Whitney and Christina to discuss the consequences of a marriage when one is out. Kerby was able to return to church and became the first pastor who is openly gay within his church. Kerby performed the ceremony when his wife Linda was married in 2000.
