Thom Yorke's Real Name: Thomas Edward Yorke

Quick answer: He is known as Thom Yorke. AllMusic lists Thomas Edward Yorke among his names, and the Royal Albert Hall archive catalogue records him as Thomas Edward Yorke, born in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. AllMusic and Encyclopaedia Britannica both give his birth date as October 7, 1968. Thom is a short form of Thomas.

Real name and early life

Northants Live, a regional news site, says Thomas Edward Yorke was born in Wellingborough on October 7, 1968. AllMusic says his left eye was paralyzed from birth and stayed shut until he was six; he had five operations and wore an eye patch for a year before regaining some sight in it.

AllMusic says his family moved often because his father sold chemical-engineering instruments. As a teenager he took inspiration from Elvis Costello, Queen, and the Beatles. After the family settled near Oxford, he attended an all-boys school, which the Guardian and the BBC identify as Abingdon School. There he met Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood, later joined by drummer Phil Selway and Greenwood's younger brother Jonny. The Guardian says Yorke started the band at about 15. He later studied fine art at the University of Exeter, according to the Guardian.

Career highlights

AllMusic says the band first called itself On a Friday, then renamed itself Radiohead after a Talking Heads song. It signed with Parlophone in the U.K. and Capitol in the U.S. by late 1991. Its debut, Pablo Honey (1993), broke through when "Creep" became a hit on American radio and MTV. The Bends (1995) and OK Computer (1997) followed; AllMusic says Q magazine voted OK Computer the greatest album of all time soon after its release. Kid A (2000) debuted at number one in the United States.

His first solo album, The Eraser (2006), made with producer Nigel Godrich, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and a Grammy. He later formed Atoms for Peace with Flea, Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco, and Godrich; their album Amok came out in 2013. The Guardian said in 2013 that he had sold about 30 million albums with Radiohead.

Further solo work includes Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (2014) and ANIMA (2019), along with film scores for Suspiria (2018) and Confidenza (2024). In 2021 he launched the Smile with Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner, and AllMusic says he released Tall Tales with producer Mark Pritchard in 2025.

Name notes for searchers

Thom is his chosen short form of Thomas. AllMusic and the Library of Congress also record credits as Thomas Yorke, and AllMusic notes playful aliases used on releases. People searching for Thomas Yorke or Thomas Edward Yorke are looking for the Radiohead singer.