Tom Hampton (born July 25, 1965 in Savannah, Tennessee) is a multi-instrumentalist, sideman, session musician and singer/songwriter.
Tom Hampton (born July 25, 1965 in Savannah, Tennessee) is an American musician who has predominantly worked as a session musician and touring sideman. Hampton is also an accomplished recording artist and singer/songwriter who occasionally releases his own material.
Hampton began his musical career as a drummer during his junior high school years; having taught himself to play on a kit that he bought from a neighbor. By his late teens, he was a veteran of the clubs and "beer joints" that dotted the landscape of his hometown and surrounding area. Hampton had been inspired by musical artists such as Jackson Browne, Dan Fogelberg and Stephen Stills, which led to his desire to learn guitar and explore songwriting...noting that "it’s prohibitively difficult to write a song on the drums."
After graduating high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served from 1984 to 1988. After his honorable discharge from the military, Hampton relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He immediately began working as a musician, first joining bands and later as a solo acoustic act. He recorded a self-financed, cassette-only set of original songs in 1991, but focused largely on playing cover material to earn a living for his family.