Tom Rapp

Thomas Dale Rapp (March 8, 1947 – February 11, 2018) was an American singer and songwriter who led Pearls Before Swine, an influential he also released four albums under his own name. He later practiced as a lawyer after graduating from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984.

Early life Tom Rapp was born in Bottineau, North Dakota. His parents, Dale and Eileen Rapp, were both school teachers, and his father became a heavy drinker often absent from their home. and (according to a local newspaper cutting kept by his mother) once came third in a talent contest in Rochester when he was aged eight, where Bobby Zimmerman, probably the boy who was later known as Bob Dylan, came in fifth. The Rapp family moved from Minnesota to Pennsylvania before settling in Eau Gallie, Florida, in 1963. Tom Rapp graduated from Eau Gallie High School in 1965. After their second album, the experimental His songs included "Rocket Man", which inspired Bernie Taupin and Elton John's song of the same name. He later lived and worked in Philadelphia and Florida. In 2008, it was reported that Rapp and another attorney sued in federal court to reverse their termination as county government lawyers.

After being interviewed in 1993 by the magazine Dirty Linen, and later contacted by Phil McMullen of the magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope, he reappeared in 1997 at Terrastock, a music festival in Providence, Rhode Island, with his son's band, Shy Camp. He recorded the album A Journal of the Plague Year, released in 1999. and Terrastock 6 in April 2006.

Personal life Rapp was married three times: firstly to Elisabeth Joosten (who sang on some of his recordings) from 1968 to 1976; after suffering from cancer.

Discography

Solo albums Familiar Songs (1972, Reprise)

A Journal of the Plague Year (1999, Woronzow)

† Tom Rapp appeared on the 1999 Neil Young 2CD tribute This Note's for You Too, on Inbetweens Records, with the song "After the Gold Rush". † Tom Rapp contributed vocals to the song "Shadows" for the band Old Fire on their album, 'Songs From the Haunted South', released in 2016 by Kscope Records.