Tom Evans

• Name — Tom Evans • Birth Name — Thomas Evans • Born — 5 June 1947 • Birthplace — Liverpool, England • Died — 19 November 1983 • Place of death — London, England • Genre — * Rock • power pop • Occupation — * Musician • singer • songwriter • Years Active — 1963–1983 • Instrument — * Bass guitar • vocals • guitar • Label — * Apple • Warner Bros. • Elektra • Radio Records • Gipsy Records • Past Member Of — Badfinger • Spouse — Marianne Evans

Evans was born in Liverpool, England, grew up in a working-class family. He was part of band the Calderstones before joining the Iveys.

In November 1969, the Iveys changed their name to Badfinger, and Paul McCartney of the Beatles gave the group a boost by offering them his song "Come and Get It", which he produced for the band. It became a featured track for the film The Magic Christian, which starred Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers. A third Magic Christian song, "Carry On Till Tomorrow" was co-written by Evans and Ham. Alongside Joey Molland, Evans played acoustic guitar on the 1971 John Lennon album, Imagine, including the single "Jealous Guy" released in 1985. Evans' high-career moment was with his composition "Without You", a song co-written with bandmate Ham. The song became a No. 1 hit worldwide for Harry Nilsson and had since become a standard in the music industry. After Pete Ham's death, Evans and Molland reunited as Badfinger and recorded two albums, "Airwaves" and "Say No More", but they went their separate ways after the latter album was released, and the two put together rival Badfinger touring bands in the US. In 1982, Bob Jackson rejoined Evans in the latter's version of Badfinger. Original Badfinger drummer Gibbins was also enlisted for Evans' band for one tour. After returning to Britain, Evans was sued for $5 million in damages for abandoning his touring contract, which Evans had involuntarily abandoned due to the legal dispute he had to resort to against Molland over the rights to the song "Without You", and a court order had ordered the dissolution of his version of Badfinger, and also Evans could have gone to jail as part of the lawsuit.

Evans was married to Marianne Evans, and together they had a son, Stephen. Evans hanged himself from a willow tree in his garden on 19 November 1983, at the age of 36. He had fallen into a dispute with former bandmate Joey Molland over royalties for the song "Without You" the previous evening.