Tim Tamashiro


Region: Calgary AB
Generation:

Bio

Tim Tamashiro is a singer and ‘jazz evangelist’, well-known as the host of Tonic on CBC Radio 2. Growing up in Blackfalds, Alberta, Tamashiro had six months of piano lessons before his mother and piano teacher decided to let him teach himself how to play by ear; he has since become a passionate believer in jazz as the ultimate music education.

Tamashiro decided to pursue music as a career after graduating high school, and taught himself music theory so that he could study at Red Deer College. After completing his studies there, he co-founded a rock band, The Mile High Club, sang jazz standards all around Alberta with The Jump Orchestra, and worked in music retail and later marketing.

In 1995, he recorded his debut album, Wiseass Crooner, and toured across Canada to promote it. His second album, Love at Christmas, was released in 1999. Tamashiro worked extensively as an emcee/singer at events for business and world leaders in Calgary, singing for prime ministers and royalty, including Queen Elizabeth. He began hosting the CBC’s new radio show Tonic in 2007, which has since become a mainstay of Radio 2. He often performs with the artists he supports on the radio, and believes that the spaces between songs, and the stories that fill them, are as important as the music.