Thomas Picardo Jr. (August 17, 1942 – May 2, 2021), known professionally as Tommy West, was an American record producer and singer-songwriter.
[2] West's career as a performing artist began in 1958 when he co-founded the doo-wop group The Criterions with Tim Hauser, a classmate of his at St. Rose High School in Belmar, New Jersey.
West formed a sub-group of the Singers called The Villanova Spires, a 12-man group who performed folk songs with guitar accompaniment.
After graduating in 1963, West became a radio announcer and music director of WRLB (FM) in Long Branch, New Jersey.
In 1966, he left the station and began work for ABC Records in New York, where he met Terry Cashman and Gene Pistilli, songwriters at the company.
West became a session singer and sang back-up vocals on albums by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Connie Francis, and Mitch Ryder.
[4] Cashman and West produced Muehleisen's album Gingerbreadd, released by Capitol Records in November 1970.
West began recording in Nashville in 1978, producing an album by Gail Davies and beginning a five-album collaboration with Ed Bruce.
[2] Production credits during this time include recordings by Judy Rodman, Holly Dunn, and Girls Next Door and The Metros from Minneapolis.
1 country singles - "You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had" with Ed Bruce (MCA Nashville) and "Until I Met You" with Judy Rodman (one of two number ones on MTM Records).
Its initial release, Through The Raindrops, by harmonica virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio, remained on the Billboard New Age chart for nine months.
The album made the Top Twenty New Age year-end chart in Billboard and launched Bonfiglio's success on the QVC Network, where his appearances generated over 200,000 units.
In 1999, West again teamed up with Anne Murray and produced What a Wonderful World, a two CD collection of inspirational and secular "message songs".
Most recently he teamed up with former RCA recording artist Jim Dawson and former Cashman and West tour manager, John Battiloro, to produce the anthem "Back Together Again" for The Global Medical Relief Fund at his New Jersey studio.