Tom Keifer

Tom Keifer performing in San Antonio on April 21, 2018

Carl Thomas Keifer (born January 26, 1961 , in Springfield ( Delaware County ), Pennsylvania ) is an American singer , guitarist and songwriter . He is a founding member of the blues rock band Cinderella , with whom he had his greatest commercial successes to date.

biography

Tom Keifer grew up in a musical family and began playing the guitar at a young age. He was particularly interested in the blues , which had a strong influence on his later songwriting. While still in junior high school , he became a member of a rock band and played electric guitar from then on. However, he had problems with alcohol and other drugs in high school and planned to drop out of school to pursue a career as a professional musician . His mother persuaded him to continue attending school by promising him to give him a Gibson Les Paul- type guitar upon graduation . After graduating from school, Keifer played in the bands "Saints in Hell", "Telapath" and "Diamonds", among others.

After Keifer got his addiction problems under control, he concentrated on a career as a musician. He began to write his own songs and financed his living by helping out at horse races and as a courier driver for photo labs. With his friend, bassist Eric Brittingham , he founded the group Cinderella in 1982. Brittingham had already played with Keifer on "Saints in Hell". Keifer took on the role of the singer because neither of them found anyone whose singing they liked.

Keifer and Cinderella guitarist Jeff LaBar performing in Madrid (2011)

Cinderella were originally discovered by Gene Simmons , bassist for the group Kiss , who tried unsuccessfully to get the band a record deal .

In 1985, however, Jon Bon Jovi , the well-known A&R manager from Mercury Records , Derek Shulman, managed to convince the band to sign. Cinderella celebrated great success in the following years with albums such as Night Songs , Long Cold Winter and Heartbreak Station . In 1987 Keifer married his long-time friend Emily, who also designed the logo for the band.

During the US tour for the album Heartbreak Station in 1991 Keifer suddenly lost his voice. He was subsequently operated on several times, the tour had to be canceled. Due to the necessary treatment and the subsequent healing process, the recordings for the group's planned fourth album were postponed several times.

In 1994, after a long time, the album Still Climbing was released , which the band had recorded without drummer Fred Coury, who left in 1992. The album also flopped as a result of the grunge and alternative wave that had now set in , but mainly because of the lack of support from their record company . In 1995 the group disbanded.

Keifer had other surgeries done to preserve his voice, and he also struggled with depression . He separated from his wife Emily and moved to Nashville , where he built his own recording studio . He started writing songs for a solo album. In 1997 he paused work for a planned comeback with Cinderella. The band toured the US in 1998 and signed a new contract with Sony Music , but later lost it because they had no material to offer. However, a best of CD and the live album Live at the Key Club were released. Further tours followed in 2000, 2002 and 2005, in 2010 the group toured Europe and in 2011 appeared again in Germany for the first time in 10 years.

Keifer lost his voice again in 2006 during a concert tour with Poison . It was a neurologically -related paralysis ( paresis ) of the laryngeal muscles found. He was told that he would probably never be able to sing again. In order to continue his career, it was necessary to train the vocal cords with the help of speech therapists , voice trainers and singing teachers so that they could be used for singing again.

According to Tom Keifer, no new albums or other recordings by Cinderella are to be expected, this chapter is closed for him.

In 2013 Keifer finally released his solo album The Way Life Goes , which was reissued in a deluxe version in 2017. In addition to the songs from the original edition, this contains two newly recorded versions of the Cinderella song Nobody's Fool from the album Night Songs, which Keifer recorded in a duet with Lzzy Hale ( Halestorm ), as well as the cover version of With a Little Help from My Friends . The release of the album was followed by a longer tour, and in 2019 the second solo album was released, entitled Rise .

Private

Keifer is married to the singer and songwriter Savannah Snow. Their first child, Jaidan, was born in February 2004.

Discography

Studio albums

• The Way Life Goes (2013)
• The Way Life Goes (Deluxe Edition) (2017)
• Rise (2019)

Singles

• "The Flower Song" (2013)
• "The Way Life Goes" (2013)
• "The Death of Me" (2019)
• "Rise" (2019)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Video: Cinderella's Tom Keifer - Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction? loudwire.com (English)
2. ↑ Interview of the Pods & Sods Podcast, 2016 (English)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Cinderella: Completed roller coaster ride, interview with Tom Keifer , Classic Rock online, accessed on October 1, 2019
4. ↑ Ten years on hold - Interview with Tom Keifer in: Rocks - Das Magazin für Classic Rock, issue 03/2013, page 50
5. ↑ Tom Keifer: This is how life plays (with and without Cinderella), Classic Rock online, accessed October 1, 2019

Web links

Commons : Tom Keifer  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website