Bio

Tom Plender is a musician and artist from London UK. He had music lessons from the age of seven initially on piano and later on drums, studying with Peter Hockings of the London Sinfonietta and then with John Taylor and Trevor Tomkins. After leaving school at 16 he spent a year studying fine art and went on to study drums, percussion and piano at The Guildhall School of Music. He spent his late teens and 20’s working as a professional musician, mostly in the field of jazz but also in every conceivable musical genre from pop/rock, funk, hip-hop, contemporary classical , electronic , salsa, Brazilian and West African music , he was also called on many times throughout the 90’s to provide live drums for various drum and bass sessions. 

Plender has performed throughout the UK and Europe most notably at Ronnie Scott’s, The Vortex Jazz club, London’s Southbank centre, The Barbican Centre, PizzaExpress Dean Street, Fete de la Musique in Paris, and The London Jazz Festival. He has played with many musicians including Jim Mullen, Pete King, Jean Toussaint ,Julian Joseph, US free jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd and European pop/rock artist Dan Black. Plender also studied and performed with Brazilian percussion maestro Bosco D’oliveira and through his collaboration with saxophonist/percussionist Barak Schmool, was an early member of the group of musicians that went on to form the critically acclaimed ‘F-ire Collective’.

At the end of the 90’s Plender’s playing was severely curtailed by Functional Neurological Disorder [FND]. Over the next few years he continued to deteriorate to the point where he was unable to use his arms or walk, and for many years was profoundly disabled. It took a long time to find a diagnosis and treatment for this poorly understood condition but finally in 2012 he met the neurologist Professor Mark Edwards, a world leading researcher in the field. He was admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and was fortunate to be part of the first wave of patients to receive groundbreaking new treatment for the condition, mostly comprising of intensive physiotherapy and movement retraining. 

Plender is now committed to campaigning and creating greater awareness for FND - he is a trustee for the charity FND Action, and was chairman between 2023- 2025. He has also campaigned for FND Hope and has been the subject of several television and media appearances discussing the condition. He has been involved in research published in the European Journal of Neurology, as well as collaborating with neuroscientist Katerina Fotopolou at the Centre for Equality Research in Brain Sciences at University College London.

In more recent years Plender worked on composing music for the lottery funded documentary film ‘Burnleigh People’ and also with electronic music artist ‘Only Rays’. At the present time he is focusing on his art for which there has been great initial interest from private collectors and art dealers, as well as skateboard and clothing companies.

As an expert on Gothic literature and vintage horror films he has for a great many years been a member of ‘The Dracula Society’ who have frequently published his articles and used his artwork.

He currently lives in Camberwell, South London, with his girlfriend and cat Denari.