Tom Evans Jr. (June 5th 1947 – November 19th 1983)

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     Since the most recent post on Pete Ham contains a significant amount of information about Badfinger, this post about Tom Evans will not go into as much detail. Try as I might, I have not been able to find any information whatsoever about his childhood or history of depression.
What do Badfinger and X have in common? Unfortunately, both bands have 2 founding members who committed suicide.

       Tom Evans was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.  He was most well known as a musician and songwriter and was asked by Paul McCartney to sing lead on “Come and Get it”, which became the lead track for the movie, The Magic Christian (which is a goofy and weird movie, if you haven’t seen it). Evans’ depression kicked in after Pete Ham hanged himself; Badfinger disbanded and Evans, along with keyboardist Bob Jackson from Badfinger joined another band called The Dodgers. A year later all the band members except for Jackson unanimously voted to kick Evans out of the band, which was a huge shock for Jackson to hear.  Since Jackson was closest to Evans, the other bandmates were adamant that he break the news to him.  

        In an interview Jackson stated, “Looking back, I should have said, well, bollocks to you. I'm gonna go, Tom is my mate.’ That's really what I should have done. But I must admit I didn't. John (guitarist) was sort of, ‘well, well... we've got to think of the bigger picture." Paul's (drummer) view was: ‘we have to prove that we will do whatever it takes.’ I was very torn about that. I felt terrible about it. I agonized about it for months and years to come, until Tom contacted me again. Paul was very unemotional about it, because he was detached from any real long relationship and he just said, "Sorry Tom. That's the way they've told us. That's it, mate." Tommy just looked so ill, you know he looked awful. He just stood up and said, "Right, I suppose that's it then," and walked out. Oh my God. I know how it must have hurt him. Can you imagine? I felt awful. He didn't ring me… And I didn't ring him, because I was so ashamed…I stood up for him, but I went along with it, didn't I? And I felt terrible about that. I really felt for him. It must have hurt his pride so much...It seemed so illogical. You shouldn't fire people when you're working on an album. You've already worked up the songs, the material. You gotta get back in the studio. It's unbelievable. I don't know which of his bits they used and which they didn't, but certainly some of his stuff was wiped out.”

            In 1977 Evans joined Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland for two comeback albums, yet they parted ways after their second album was released and went on to form separate rival Badfinger touring acts in the US. One of the rival bands included Evans, Jackson, and the original drummer for Badfinger, Mike Gibbons. Evans and Jackson signed a management contract with John Cass, which turned out to be a catastrophic mistake.  The band ended up on their US tour stranded with no money, food, or tour dates. Evans was sued for $5 million for abandoning his touring contract, which was eventually settled in Cass’ favor.   

            On November 18, 1983, Evans and Molland had an intense argument via telephone regarding financial issues still left over from the Apple Record days. The next morning Evans ended up hanging himself and leaving behind a wife and son, just like his friend Pete Ham had done 8 years previously. His wife Marianne stated in an interview that he was never really able to get over the death of Pete, which added to his depression. 





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