Touring almost non-stop with Tower, Tom sang to audiences in Japan and Europe, with sold-out shows in Tokyo, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, Paris and London. He crisscrossed the United States and Canada performing in venues from small clubs to the giant Newport and Playboy Jazz Festivals. He has appeared at Milwaukee's renowned Summerfest and on Late Night with David Letterman.
Influenced in his early years by artists from Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan to Aerosmith, Yes and James Taylor, Tom moved from the farm (Really!) in Massachusetts to New York City. Once there, he was fortunate enough to meet and work with quite a few phenomenal musicians. He composed for and sang with the band G-Jam (later becoming Bang the Drum), which was prominent in the Village scene, in the early 80's.
Later on he fell in with a bunch of rowdy guys from Long Island that had a band called The Funk Filharmonik. They let him sing and everyone saw that it was good and so it came to pass that he did a few gigs before leaving for California and TOP. He returned, and after some pleading, they let him back into the Funk and so it is, to this very day.
While doing all of this Bowes still found time for writing and studio projects. His work has extended internationally with appearances on the hit German television shows, Schmitenander and Ohne Filter He has worked in the commercial industry singing for the likes of Rover in Japan, Verizon, Oprah and Nickalodeon. His vocals were featured on the San Francisco Giants theme song.
Over the years, Tom has had the pleasure of performing along side a wide range of artists including Ray Charles, Queen Latifah, The Doobie Brothers, Michael McDonald, Greg Adams, Will Lee, Michelle Shocked and many others. He can also be heard in some major motion pictures including, White Palace (Universal – 1990), View From the Top(Miramax-2003) and Shaolin Soccer(Miramax-2004).
The bottom line is that although Tom is all over the place, there is still NOTHING that can compare to the fun, excitement, insanity, lunacy, craziness, alcohol, and anything else you can think of that goes along with working with the boys in the Funk. The Funk Filharmonik is made up of some of the most talented musicians in NYC and quite probably the entire USA.
Enough of the third person bio crap somebody else wrote for me... look, I don't want to get mushy but to the Funk Filharmonik, I truly love all of you guys! This band is the reason that guys like me want to get into this business. On the other side of the coin, you folks who come out like gangbusters again and again scream, yell, dance and act like maniacs you are the reason guys like me stay in this business. Thank you so much for helping me reach the wonderful place that I'm at. I couldn't have done any of it without you.