Tom Ardolino

Thomas Robert Ardolino (January 12, 1955 – January 6, 2012) was an American rock drummer best known as a member of NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet).

Biography Tom Ardolino was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. A fan of the band, he began corresponding and trading tapes with keyboardist and co-founder Terry Adams. This led to him meeting and befriending the band. At one live show at the Rusty Nail in Sunderland, Massachusetts, when original NRBQ drummer Tom Staley did not return for an encore, Adams invited Ardolino to fill in. He performed well enough that when Staley left the band in 1974, his bandmates agreed that Ardolino was the natural choice as successor.

Ardolino remained in the lineup until the band went on hiatus in 2004, returning for occasional performances with Adams, and contributing to solo recordings by Adams (Rhythm Spell and Holy Tweet), by NRBQ (Keep This Love Going and We Travel the Spaceways) and others (see Selected Discography).

While lead vocals were generally performed by other members of NRBQ, live shows often included a moment where Ardolino would take the spotlight and sing, either with a karaoke backing track or with one of the other band members drumming.

Ardolino's solo album Unknown Brain was released in 2004 on CD by Bumble Bee Records, Japan and on vinyl LP in the USA on Mystra Records. The album consists mostly of basement recordings made in 1971–72. The cover states "WARNING: If out-of-tuneness bothers you, do not listen."

He was also an avid collector of song poems, and initiated the "MSR Madness" series of compilations.

Ardolino appeared in a promotional video to campaign for the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie in his hometown of Springfield.

Tom Ardolino died on January 6, 2012, at a Springfield, Massachusetts, hospital; this was reported on the NRBQ Headquarters page on Facebook. A later article from the Washington Post specified the cause as diabetes.

Selected discography All Hopped Up (Red Rooster Records) 1978 At Yankee Stadium (Mercury Records) 1978 Kick Me Hard (Red Rooster Records) 1979 Tiddlywinks (Red Rooster Records) 1980 NRBQ in Person! (Red Rooster Records) 1982 Grooves in Orbit (Bearsville Records) 1983 Tapdancin' Bats (Red Rooster Records) 1983 She Sings, They Play (Red Rooster Records) 1985, with Skeeter Davis Christmas Wish (Rounder Records) 1985 Lou & the Q (Red Rooster Records) 1986, with Lou Albano Uncommon Denominators (Rounder Records) 1986 God Bless Us All (Rounder Records) 1987 Through the Eyes of a Quartet (Demon Music Group) 1987 Diggin' Uncle Q (Rounder Records) 1988 Truth or Consequences (Amigo-Sweden) 1988 Wild Weekend (Virgin Records) 1989 Peek-A-Boo, The Best of NRBQ 1969-89 (Rhino Entertainment) 1990 Honest Dollar (Rykodisc) 1992 Stormalong (Rabbit Ears/BMG Kidz) 1992, with John Candy Message for the Mess Age (Rhino Entertainment) 1992 Tokyo (Dreamsville – Japan) 1996 Christmas Wish (Big Notes) 1996 Tokyo (Rounder Records) 1997 You're Nice People, You Are (Rounder Records) 1997 You Gotta Be Loose (Rounder Records) 1997 NRBQ (Rounder Records) 1999 Ridin' in My Car (Rounder Records) 1999 Christmas Wish – Extended Edition (Dreamsville – Japan) 2000 Atsa My Band (Edisun) 2002 Music's Been Good to You (Edisun) 2007 Live from Mountain Stage (Blue Plate) 2002 Live at the Wax Museum (Edisun) 2003, with John Sebastian Transmissions (Caraway-Japan) 2004 Froggy's Favorites (Clang) 2006 Christmas Wish – Deluxe Edition (Clang!) 2007 Keep This Love Going (Clang!) 2011 We Travel the Spaceways (Clang!) 2012 With Terry Adams Terrible (New World Records) 1995 Rhythm Spell (Clang!) 2007 Holy Tweet (Clang!) 2009 With Steve Ferguson Mama U-Seapa (Schoolkids Records) 1995

With Terry Adams and Steve Ferguson

Louisville Sluggers (Clang!) 2006

With PJ O'Connell Happy Go Lucky (Edisun) 2002 Careful (Clang!) 2006 With Johnny Johnson Johnnie B. Bad (Elektra Records) 1991 With Hot Shots Teen Street (Clang! – US and Vivid Sound Corporation - Japan) 2008 With Neanderthals The Modern Stone-Age Family (Sundazed Music) 1999 With Jim Stephanson Say Go (Clang!) 2010 With Instant Cytron Little Gang Of The Universe (Dreamsville Records) 2000 Solo: Unknown Brain (Bumblebee Records) 2004 As Producer/Presenter The Beat of the Traps: MSR Madness Vol 1 (Carnage Press) 1992 The Makers of Smooth Music: MSR Madness Vol 2 (Carnage Press) 2007 Off The Charts: The Song Poem Story Various artists (Red Rock Records - film soundtrack)

Video/Film/TV Derbytown (Recorded Live in Louisville, 1982, MVD Visual) One in a Million (Recorded Live in Montreal, 1989, MVD Visual) Saturday Night with Connie Chung (band profile, CBS, 1989) Complex World, (director Jim Wolpaw, 1992) Take My Wife, Sleaze, episode 234 of The Simpsons, first broadcast November 28, 1999 Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story (director Jamie Meltzer, 2003) NRBQ: Rock & Roll's Best-Kept Secret (produced by Mike Scully and Julie Thacker), first broadcast on A&E (TV channel)'s Breakfast with the Arts on January 26, 2003 Live in Performance (SRO Entertainment, 2006)