East Hanover’s Tom Corea Still Shares the Joy of Music

Tom Corea, of East Hanover, was a professional musician since the 1970s. His career began when he worked as a drummer for various local rock bands, performing sets of classic and new rock, as well as a complete set of songs by The Who. An agency found them and asked them to play strictly Who songs. The band named themselves Dr. Jimmy, after a song by The Who, and things happened fast.

“Tribute bands were becoming the big thing,” explained Corea, “and we were playing seven days a week, during the days when the drinking age was 18-years-old.”

Corea took a brief break from music when he got married in the early 1990s, then re-emerged on the scene with a new band, Bad Attitude, and were signed to a recording contract. Their producer was Mark Berry, whose first credit was assistant producer to the hit “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon.

Around 2001, Corea was diagnosed with severe carpal tunnel in his hand, so it was impossible to play drums. During recovery from his surgery, he decided to purchase recording studio equipment and open up BabyFishmouth Studios.

With his new studio, he began working on Christmas CD releases. And over the years, as his studio grew into a full-sized studio, he continued making music with various musicians. At the height of his career, he produced “The Magic of Winter” by The Wizards of Winter, an original holiday rock opera outfit focused on the spirit of the Christmas.

He produced a Cheap Trick tribute album that was put out in Australia. “It was my first time working with people that were not from around here,” Corea said.

But that was just the beginning of working with musicians from other countries. Shortly afterwards, he worked with U.K. musician, Ian Roberts, on “Christmas at Our House” via Skype.

In addition to producing with musicians overseas and performing live with various bands, Corea began working with kids in theatre, doing sound design. All was right with the world until COVID shut everything down. But Corea didn’t stay stagnant very long. With a bit of research, Corea found more musicians to collaborate with on Kompoz, a community of artists—musicians seeking musicians.

“I played on so many genres,” said Corea. “Rock, pop, funk, jazz, big band, avant garde, metal…I’ve worked with people in Brazil, the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Canada, Italy, France, Sweden, Russia, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Australia, Argentina, and Japan. It’s so much fun. It’s all independent release stuff.”

With all of Corea’s accomplishments it’s interesting that he did not grow up in a musical household. “My brother played accordion, but he never kept it up,” he said. However, it was his brother who had “those great records” including The Beatles.

“I remember watching them on Ed Sullivan as a 6-year-old,” said Corea, who also loved AM pop music on the radio and was inspired by Hal Blaine, a drummer who was a core member of the Wrecking Crew, a close-knit group of session musicians in Los Angeles who played on hit records during the 1960s.

Currently Corea plays drums for Captains of Leisure, an outfit he calls “yacht band rock” and a cover band called Terry and the Rockits. He’s also a substitute teacher for general classes, as well as art, physical education, and special needs.

At age 65 he said, “There’s no reason to retire.”

To hear Tom Corea’s music on ReverbNation, visit www.reverbnation.com/babyfishmouthstudio/songs.