Murray Thom
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Murray Thom | |
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| Born | July 19, 1957 |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Selwyn College |
| Occupation |
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Murray Neville Thom (born 19 July 1957) is a New Zealand businessman, music producer, philanthropist and sportsman. He is best known for his music production on Celine Dion’s Miracle album and his collaboration with pianist Carl Doy, which resulted in their Together 10 CD Collection being featured as one of Oprahs Favourite Things of 2002. Locally, his production company, Thom Productions is best known for the 12x platinum[1] Great New Zealand Songbook and The Great New Zealand Cookbook, which have also been released in numerous versions for other countries.
Career
Music
Thom's foray into the music business came when he joined CBS Records International as a sales representative in 1979. After a fast-track through the ranks, Thom was appointed Managing Director of CBS in 1981, at that time the youngest managing director in the world.[2]
With a strong desire to follow his entrepreneurial spirit, Thom left the corporate life to establish his own business in 1986.[3]
He worked with Murray Ball of Footrot Flats to establish the merchandising arm of that business reference and he also signed New Zealand recording artist Dave Dobbyn who had featured on the ‘Footrot Flats’ album and together they produced the ‘Loyal’ album.[4]
Thom discovered pianist Carl Doy playing in the lobby of an Auckland hotel in 1987 and together they produced their first album ‘Piano By Candlelight’ in 1987.[5] More recently Thom and Carl Doy have been focussing on the considerable potential of the Asian market and have produced a number of recordings specifically for China. The accompanying YouTube videos have all had views numbering well into the millions. In the USA a collaboration with Doy was packaged into a 10 CD and book collection, which Oprah featured on her show as one of Oprahs Favourite Things of 2002.
In 1996 after seeing Rob Guest performing in the leading role of Jean Valjean in ‘Les Misérables’, Thom signed Guest to a recording contract.[6] Shortly after that Guest was announced as the leading role of Phantom of the Opera and Rob Guest’s album ‘Unmasked’ which featured songs from both shows was released in 1997. Thom brought together Celine Dion and photographer Anne Geddes and was executive producer of the Miracle (2004) album released in October 2004.[7]
Thom collaborated with Neil Finn to re-record the war song ‘Blue Smoke’ which was released on Anzac Day 2015, with all proceeds going to the Returned Services Association.[8]
Great Songbook and Cookbook Series
Thom was the creator and executive producer of The Great New Zealand Songbook released in 2009.[9] Artists like Neil Finn, Brooke Fraser and Crowded House were asked to handwrite the lyrics to some of their biggest hits.[10] The album went on to become certified 12x platinum[11] and, as a result of the success, Thom followed up with The Great Australian Songbook released in 2011.[12] This production again included handwritten lyrics from 40 of Australian artists including Kylie Minogue, INXS, John Farnham and others.[13]
Following the release of The Great Australian Songbook, Thom identified a major drop in the physical sales of music and, as a result of that, segued across to produce The Great New Zealand Cookbook[14] – instead of 40 recording artists writing their lyrics, this was 80 cooks, chefs and bakers handwriting their recipes.[15] Such was the success of The Great New Zealand Cookbook, that at the 2015 Gourmand World Cookbook award it won the category for ‘Best Easy Recipes’.[16] Not only was the Great New Zealand Cookbook a commercial success but the proceeds raised money for the charity ‘Kidscan’.
Inspired by The Great New Zealand Cookbook, further publications were produced including
The Great Australian Cookbook (2016), The Great South African Cookbook (2016), The Really Quite Good British Cookbook (2017), with front cover art by Sir Peter Blake, and America The Great Cookbook (2017).[17]
Offering Project
In 2019 Thom and Tim Harper produced The Offering Project which was a collaboration between twelve New Zealand recording artists and twelve of New Zealand’s finest visual artists. The concept was to record well known gospel hymns that were also interpreted by visual artists, with all the proceeds going to the work of the Salvation Army in New Zealand.[18]
Work is currently underway to replicate the success of Offering around the world, with a tentative release date of 12/12/2024.
Business
In 1987 Thom and his business partner Peter Jordan, won the tender to introduce personalised number plates into New Zealand.[19] This was a joint venture with the Land Transport Safety Authority which was a government agency. Thom exited from that company in 1997 to fully devote himself to the music business.
Thom released his own memoir ‘Eat, Drink & Be Murray’ in 2019.[20]
Sporting career
Thom has a lifelong passion for sailing and in 2005 won the World Laser Master Championships in Fortaleza, Brazil.[21]
Personal life
Thom grew up in the eastern suburbs of Auckland, New Zealand, and was educated at Selwyn College.
He married his wife, Anne, in 1984 and they have three children – Hayley, Sam and Sarah.
References
- ↑ Gilchrist, Shane (2010-08-28). "Join the chorus". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray Thom - Speakers - Auckland". www.empireagency.co. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray was named one of New Zealand's Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the decade by NZ Business magazine and we're not surprised, especially with his more recent creation Speakers New Zealand". www.speakers.co.nz. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray Thom: Mr SXS - Business News". NZ Herald. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray Thom". Discogs. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray Thom Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ Céline Dion, Anne Geddes - Miracle Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-10-13
- ↑ "Blue Smoke - Anzac Day 2015". GrownUps New Zealand. 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ Various - The Great New Zealand Songbook, 2009, retrieved 2023-10-13
- ↑ "The Great New Zealand Songbook | Productions". Thom Productions. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ Gilchrist, Shane (2010-08-28). "Join the chorus". Otago Daily Times Online News. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ Various - The Great Australian Songbook, 2011, retrieved 2023-10-13
- ↑ "The Great Australian Songbook | Productions". Thom Productions. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Great New Zealand Cookbook". Paper Plus. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "The Great New Zealand Cookbook | Productions". Thom Productions. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Winners by countries - Gourmand Awards 2015". www.cookbookfair.com. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ Yonan, Joe, ed. (2017-10-31). America The Great Cookbook. Weldon Owen. ISBN 978-1-68188-282-6.
- ↑ "The Offering". SalvationArmyPartner. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Murray Thom". RYLA. 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Eat, Drink and be Murray!". Aotearoa Books | Rakino Publishing. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Laser Masters- Thom Wins, so does Orams". www.sail-world.com. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
External links
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