Songs By Tom Lehrer

Something of a reluctant performer, retiring from touring less than ten years after commencing his career, Tom Lehrer achieved a degree of popularity even he could not have envisaged. It was whilst studying at mathematics at Harvard University that he began writing comic songs, usually for the entertainment of his fellow students, but such was the reaction he decided it was worth spending a little money to record Songs By Tom Lehrer professionally. He also pressed up four hundred copies which were sold to friends around the university. Then word of mouth began to take over, and mail orders began arriving from all across the United States.... His breakthrough in the UK came from an unlikely source; a personal endorsement by HRH Princess Margaret, with his early album being reissued and making the Top Ten! It helped that he gained the one thing that was denied him in the US - radio play, with the BBC in particular getting behind him. The interest in Tom Lehrer has never really diminished, even though he hasn't toured since the early 1960s and didn't release anything officially for more than thirty years! Songs By Tom Lehrer shows just how sharp a mind he had.