Tom Lehrer

@Musicians, Facts and Life

Tom Lehrer is a singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist and mathematician from America, known for his dark humour

Apr 9, 1928

Jewish ComediansAmericanHarvard UniversityMusiciansMathematiciansSingersAries Celebrities
Biography

Personal Details

  • Birthday: April 9, 1928
  • Nationality: American
  • Famous: Musicians, Jewish Comedians, Harvard University, Musicians, Mathematicians, Singers
  • Known as: Thomas Andrew Lehrer
  • Universities:
    • Harvard University
    • Harvard University
    • Horace Mann School
  • Notable Alumnis:
    • Harvard University
  • Birth Place: New York, Manhattan

Tom Lehrer born at

New York, Manhattan

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Birth Place

Lehrer never married and has no children. Currently he is enjoying his peaceful retired life after a hectic career of juggling music and mathematics.

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Personal Life

Tom Lehrer was born into an American Jewish family in Manhattan. Little is known about his parents except for the fact that they divorced when he was 14.

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Childhood & Early Life

He studied classical piano from a young age though later on his interest shifted to pop music and he began taking lessons from a piano teacher who specialized in pop-music. Soon he began composing funny songs and tunes.

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Childhood & Early Life

He was a brilliant student who skipped several grades and graduated from Horace Mann School, New York at the age of 15. He enrolled in Harvard University from where he obtained AB as well as Master’s degrees in mathematics. He began writing funny songs as an undergraduate student to entertain his friends.

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Childhood & Early Life

He joined Harvard’s doctoral program and worked as a researcher at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. He then became an educator and taught classes in many universities and colleges like MIT, Harvard, University of California, etc.

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Career

His music career began in 1953 when he self-released his first album, ‘Songs by Tom Lehrer’ under his own label Lehrer records. The graphic and comic nature of his songs ensured that he soon got a cult following.

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Career

He served a short stint in the U.S Army from 1955 to 1957 and returned to Harvard to teach and to complete his PhD. However he could not obtain his doctorate in mathematics.

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Career

Lehrer recorded a live album, ‘An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer’ in 1959 in Sanders Theater at Harvard. It included songs with shocking lyrics like ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ and’ The Masochism Tango.’

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Career

He released another album, ‘More of Tom Lehrer’ in 1959. It had the same track listing as his previous album. He issued both the live and studio versions at the same time.

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Career

His debut album, ‘Songs by Tom Lehrer’ (1953), self-produced and self-released, managed to attract enough attention that Lehrer acquired a cult following. It featured the hit ‘Fight Fiercely, Harvard’, a satirical song that he originally wrote as a student at Harvard.

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Major Works

The live album ‘An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer’ was recorded by him in Sanders Theater in 1959. It included songs full of dark humour and macabre, like ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’, ‘The Elements’ and ‘Clemetine’ which shocked, as well as thrilled the listeners.

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Major Works

‘That Was the Year That Was’ (1965) was his only album to be accredited Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was a collection of songs that Lehrer originally wrote for the T.V program ‘That Was the Week That Was.’ The lyrics of the songs were very daring and bold.

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Major Works