thumb|Thom Yorke am Rock Oz'Arènes in Avenches - August 2006
'''Thom Yorke''' (* 7. Oktober 1968 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England; eigentlich ''Thomas Edward Yorke'') ist ein britischer Sänger, der vor allem als Sänger der Rockgruppe Radiohead bekannt ist.

== Leben ==
Seit seiner Geburt ist Yorkes linkes Auge gelähmt. Zwischen dem ersten und dem sechsten Lebensjahr musste er fünfmal am Auge operiert werden, wobei die letzte Operation fehlerhaft verlief. Yorke war Sanitäter in einer Nervenheilanstalt und hat an der University of Exeter Kunst, Philosophie und Englisch studiert. In seiner Zeit als Student lernte er seine Freundin kennen, mit der er zwei Kinder hat und derzeit in Oxford lebt.

== Karriere ==
Er war bereits mit zehn Jahren in einer Band und wurde als Sänger der 1986 (damals noch unter dem Namen ''On A Friday'') gegründeten Band Radiohead berühmt, hat allerdings auch mit anderen Künstlern zusammengearbeitet, darunter internationale Acts wie Björk, DJ Shadow, PJ Harvey, UNKLE sowie die deutschen Electronic-Künstler Modeselektor.

Yorke setzt sich auch politisch ein. Er ist Mitglied bei mehreren Organisationen wie Make Poverty History, Make Trade Fair und The Big Ask.

Nachdem die Veröffentlichung des neuen Radiohead-Albums auf 2007 verschoben wurde, machte sich Yorke daran, noch 2006 das Soloalbum ''The Eraser'' einzuschieben. Auf ''The Eraser'' sind sowohl alle Stücke von Yorke selbst geschrieben als auch – mit Ausnahme weniger Passagen – selbst eingespielt worden<ref>MTV news: ''[http://www.mtv.de/news/news.php?id=22335 Thom Yorke solo]'', 15. Mai 2006</ref>.

Am 21. August 2006 erschien die erste Single aus seinem Album ''The Eraser'' mit dem Titel ''Harrowdown Hill''. Auf drei unterschiedlichen Formaten (Maxi-CD, 7" und 12"-Vinyl) sind insgesamt drei B-Seiten verteilt: The Drunkk Machine, Jetstream sowie die Extended Version von Harrowdown Hill.

== Diskografie ==
'''Alben'''
*2006: ''The Eraser''

'''Singles'''
*2006: ''Black Swan''
*2006: ''Harrowdown Hill''
*2006: ''Analyse'' (12" & Download)

{{Infobox musical artist
| Name                = Thom Yorke
| Img                 = Thom_Yorke.jpg
| Img_capt            = Thom Yorke in concert.
| Img_size            = 
| Background          = solo_singer
| Birth_name          = Thomas Edward Yorke
| Alias               = Dr. Tchock<br />Tchocky
| Born                = <br>Wellingborough, Northamptonshire
| Instrument          = Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards
| Genre               = Alternative rock, art rock, electronic music
| Occupation          = Musician, artist, activist
| Years_active        = 1991-present
| Label               = XL, TBD
| Associated_acts     = Radiohead
}}

'''Thomas Edward Yorke''' (born English band acoustic guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar (notably during the ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac''  sessions). Yorke is also an electronic musician, and ''The Eraser'' was heavily influenced by electronic music.<ref></ref> In 2005, Yorke became a spokesman for Friends of the Earth and their campaign to reduce carbon emissions, The Big Ask.

==Early years==
As a child, Yorke underwent seven major surgical operations to correct a paralyzed  left eye he had since birth.<ref></ref> He has stated that the last surgery was "botched," giving him his drooping eyelid.<ref name="MCLEAN"></ref>

The Yorke family finally settled in Queen guitarist public school, Abingdon, where he met future bandmates Jonny.

The band was named On A Friday, as Friday was the only day on which the members were allowed to rehearse.<ref name="MCLEAN"></ref> Yorke, in this early line up, played guitar and provided vocals, and was already developing his songwriting and lyrical skills. Yorke, speaking about music's influence on him as a schoolboy, said, "School was bearable for me because the music department was separate from the rest of the school. It had pianos in tiny booths, and I used to spend a lot of time hanging around there after school."<ref name="ROSS"></ref> The band's mentor at the school was the music teacher, Terence Gilmore-James, who, according to band members, was the only one who encouraged them.<ref name="ROSS"></ref>  Said Colin Greenwood, "When we started, it was very important that we got support from him, because we weren't getting any from the headmaster. You know, the man once sent us a bill, charging us for the use of school property, because we practiced in one of the music rooms on a Sunday."<ref name="ROSS"/>

While attending the English, Yorke worked as a Headless Chickens and Flickernoise, the latter of which was a techno group. He also held a part time position as an orderly at a psychiatric hospital. In his second year, he was introduced to the university's newly acquired Macintoshes, with which he was fascinated. It was also around this time that he met Stanley Donwood, an artist who from 1994 on would become an important collaborator on single and album artwork for Radiohead. Yorke has often used an alias ('The White Chocolate Farm', 'Tchock') while working on projects with Donwood. Together, the duo later won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

In 1987, Yorke and his girlfriend were involved in a car crash. He was unharmed, but his girlfriend suffered from whiplash. This brought on Yorke's Airbag", "Killer Cars", "Stupid Car" and "Drunkk Machine". On A Friday reformed in 1991 as the members were finishing their degree courses. Meanwhile, Yorke briefly had a job selling men's suits. Now relocated to Oxford, they signed to True Stories''.

==Radiohead==

Radiohead first gained notice with the worldwide hit single "Creep", which was allegedly written in the men's toilets of Exeter University's student club.<ref></ref> The song appeared on the band's 1993 debut album ''Pablo Honey'', which received mixed reviews. Yorke, coming to resent the way "Creep" had overshadowed their career, described the band's feeling toward it in the lyrics of "My Iron Lung", which appeared on their second album, ''The Bends'', in 1995. By this time the band, through frequent touring and greater attention to detail in the recording studio, had picked up a large cult fan base and had begun to receive wider critical acclaim. Radiohead charted their first top 5 single in the UK with "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" in late 1995.

The band's third effort, 1997's ''OK Computer'', was heralded as a landmark album by nearly every publication that reviewed it, establishing Radiohead as one of the leading rock acts of the 1990s. Some of these concerns were voiced in the documentary film ''Meeting People Is Easy'', which focused on the period. Yorke has explained in various interviews that he dislikes the "mythology" within the rock genre, and hates the media's obsession with celebrities.<ref></ref> In the late 1990s, Yorke struggled with the idea of a follow-up to ''OK Computer''.

Yorke and the band adopted a more radical approach on 2000's ''electronic, classical influences. Expanding Radiohead's sales while earning acclaim for experimentation, the albums also divided fans and critics. In 2003, Radiohead released their sixth album, ''DRM-free download on 10 October 2007.

==Solo work==

Yorke released ''Irish charts. The album was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, and for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

==Collaborations==
Yorke, along with his solo work, has collaborated with several artists.  Some examples include the track Rabbit in Your Headlights created with the group UNKLE. Another example is the track The White Flash, a collaboration with the experimental group Modeselektor.

==Personal life==
Yorke currently lives in central Andy, ex-vocalist of the band the Unbelievable Truth.

==Musical approach==
thumb|Thom Yorke in 2006
As a singer, Yorke is known for his distinctive You", "Creep", "Nude"). During the recording sessions for ''The Bends'' in 1994, the band watched Jeff Buckley in concert; Yorke later said the concert had a direct effect on his vocal delivery on "Fake Plastic Trees".<ref></ref> However, Yorke has said, "it annoys me how pretty my voice is... how polite it can sound when perhaps what I'm singing is deeply acidic." He has often adopted other styles of singing, such as an aggressive shouting style in the middle section of "Paranoid Android" and a semi-spoken, rap-like delivery for 2003's "Myxomatosis" and "A Wolf at the Door".