Tom Allen was born in Montreal. He attended Marianapolis College and McGill, before finishing degrees at Boston University and Yale. Tom worked as a bass trombonist in New York City when there were still places you just didn’t go, in Toronto, and on tour with the Great Lakes Brass. He began working for the CBC on his 30th birthday, a very long time ago, and, at the time of writing, still does. He has written three books, created and hosted countless shows for theatre companies and orchestras, as well as touring a series of cabaret/history/storytelling shows that includes The Missing Pages, Being Lost and his latest, about a 20 year-old hothead who walked 400 kilometres in frustration before becoming the founder of Western Music as we know it. Tom’s film, The Last Curlew, starring RH Thomson, will be released in 2023.
Tom lives in Toronto with his beloved, the harpist Lori Gemmell, their son, and a politically astute puppy.
