Lol Tolhurst

Lol Tolhurst

Tolhurst in 2008
Background information
Birth name Laurence Andrew Tolhurst
Also known as Lol Tolhurst
Born (1959-02-03) 3 February 1959
Origin Horley,[1] Surrey, England
Genres Punk rock, post-punk, gothic rock, alternative rock, new wave, electronic
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Drums, keyboards
Years active 1976–present
Associated acts The Cure, Presence, Levinhurst, Malice, Easy Cure
Website www.levinhurst.com

Laurence Andrew "Lol" Tolhurst (born 3 February 1959) is a founding member and the former drummer and keyboardist of British band The Cure. He left The Cure in 1989 and was later involved in the band Presence and his current project Levinhurst. In 2011, he briefly reunited with The Cure for selected shows but did not officially rejoin.

Life and career

Early years (1959–1975)

Tolhurst was born in Horley, Surrey, England, the fifth of six children of William and Daphne Tolhurst; he has three brothers (Roger, Nigel, and John) and two sisters (Jane and Barbara). Tolhurst was five years old when he first met Robert Smith at St. Francis Primary and Junior Schools, and thus began a friendship that culminated in the formation of The Cure.

The Cure (1976–1989)

Tolhurst is one of the co-founders of The Cure, and as a drummer he helped write and record the albums Three Imaginary Boys, Boys Don't Cry, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. After the Pornography tour in 1982 Tolhurst assumed keyboard duties. In late 1988, with the recording of The Cure's eighth studio album Disintegration, some tensions surfaced, when Tolhurst was battling with alcohol and drugs. During the mix of Disintegration, he was fired from the band, and despite getting credit for 'Other Instrument', the other members of The Cure have said that Tolhurst never performed on the album.

After The Cure (1990–2010)

Following his departure from The Cure, Tolhurst and Gary Biddles—who previously worked with Simon Gallup in Fools Dance—formed the short-lived band Presence, which only released one full-length album called Inside. He said several years later that he recorded a second album with this band, but he said it is unlikely that it will ever be released.[2] In 1991, Tolhurst's first son was born in London: poet and musician Gray Andrew Tolhurst. In 1994, he sued Robert Smith and Fiction Records over royalties payments, also claiming joint ownership, with Smith, of the name The Cure. He eventually lost after a long legal battle.[3] He has worked as a producer for the debut album of And Also the Trees.

In the early 2000s, Tolhurst and his second wife, Cindy Levinson, formed a band called Levinhurst. A few months before the release of their debut album, Tolhurst said in an interview that he had reconciled with Robert Smith and that the two of them were friends again.[4] Shortly afterward, Levinhurst released their debut album, Perfect Life, in 2004. Since then, they have also released an EP called The Grey featuring a cover of The Cure's "All Cats Are Grey"—which he claimed credit for writing lyrically in another interview[5]—and two other songs. Their second album, House by the Sea, was released in April 2007. Their third album, called Blue Star and featuring original Cure bassist Michael Dempsey, was released in the U.S. in June 2009 and worldwide in February 2010. He has also recently composed music for the film 9,000 Needles; a documentary that recently won "Best Documentary" at the Phoenix Film festival 2010. The second part of the European tour "Blue Star Over Europe" was in October 2010, followed by a South and North American tour early in 2011.

Reunion with The Cure (2011)

In 2010, The Guardian published an article with a headline reading "The Cure's original drummer asks to rejoin band."[6] However, Tolhurst called the article "a little misleading" saying:

I have not asked RS to rejoin the Cure! I have my thing, he has his. I just thought it might be fun to play the old songs together again especially as Michael and I had a great time playing the TIB songs this March in Europe.[7]

In 2011, it was announced that Tolhurst would be performing with The Cure for the first time in 22 years when the band performed their first three albums—Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, and Faith—in their entirety at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.[8]

Cured

The Cure co-founder and former drummer Laurence “Lol” Tolhurst released a new memoir in 2016, Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys. It tells the story of Tolhurst’s career with the Cure, which ran from the band’s 1976 formation until he left in 1989. According to a press release, Cured also “reveals the highs and lows of the lifelong friendship” between Tolhurst and frontman Robert Smith; they have known each other since they were both just 5 years old. See Tolhurst’s statement on the book, as well as its cover, designed by ex-Cure guitarist Porl Thompson, below.

"This is a record of the things that have kept me awake at 4 a.m., the precious flowers of the past blooming in the dark corners of memory. I have tried my best to capture whatever that light shone on. I hope it illuminates events for you as much as it has for me."

Tolhurst embarked on a extensive book tour in 2016. The book tour began in the United Kingdom and finished the year in America.

Discography

The Cure
Presence

→ See Presence discography

Levinhurst

→ See Levinhurst Discography

References

  1. ↑ Apter, Jeff (2009). Never Enough: the Story of The Cure. Omnibus Press. p. 42. ISBN 9780857120243.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Lol" 1 August 2007 Archived 18 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ ""Drummer beaten in cash battle" 27 June 2007". Picturesofyou.us. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  4. ↑ Mitchell, Daniel. ""Laurence Tolhurst" 27 June 2007". Ink19.com. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  5. ↑ ""Interview to Lol Tolhurst" 27 June 2007" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  6. ↑ Sean Michaels (2010-08-24). "The Cure's original drummer asks to rejoin band". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  7. ↑ "Levinhurst blog". Myspace.com. 24 August 2010. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
  8. ↑ "The Cure playing first 3 albums in Sydney with ex-members Lol Tolhurst, Roger O'Donnell". Slicingupeyeballs.com. 5 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
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