Tommy Pope

Tommy Pope has been belting out songs on stage since 1996. At the young age of 16 he was playing the local coffee shops in Elmhurst and his home town of Villa Park. He quickly saw an outpouring of support and decided this was more than a hobby. While attending the College of DuPage in 2000  he formed the band Drunken Monkeys. The band saw almost immediate success and went from playing parties and local pubs to headlining bigger venues in the city like The Elbo Room and becoming a finalist in Q101 Rolling Rock sponsored "Battle of the Bands" at the Hard Rock Cafe. In 2003 the Drunken Monkeys released the full studio album One More for the Road at The Double Door. Sadly it was to be their first and only record. 

The band split shortly after in late 2003 and Tommy Pope began establishing himself as a solo act. Tommy released his first solo album Beautiful Mess  to a sold out crowd at the Elbo Room in 2005. Though the record had a decent reception he found out quickly that being a successful solo act in the city is a lot harder than expected. So Tommy decided to go back to his hometown of Villa Park and attempt to get a fresh start.

By the end of 2009 Tommy had become a regular act at almost every bar in Villa Park and had released his second solo album Black and Blue at DeMito Time's. The record sold a modest amount of copies and the single "Fever" was a crowd favorite.  He continued to plug away at the local scene and released his third solo album Out of Sight in 2013 at Villa Park's Lunar Brewing Co. As compact discs were becoming more and more a thing of the past, the album did not do well. Though the release party was a success, the album was pretty much D.O.A and it wasn't looking promising for future albums. And in this time Tommy had married his long time girlfriend Brooke and they became the lucky parents to Thomas Jr and Lucy. So with more mouths to feed he knew this road wasn't going to pay any bills.

Though he was discouraged Tommy started to notice that his cover songs were gaining much more acclaim and attention than his original songs were. His ability to really do a cover justice shows a deeper look into his talents. The more covers he started incorporating into the set list, the bigger and better the crowds were. So Tommy decided to ditch playing his originals and focus on cover songs. Now here we are almost a decade later and Tommy Pope has found success in playing the songs people know and love. He still writes and records his original songs, and even busts some out at a show now and then. But he has now found is place in the music scene. He continues to play in the local bars and has had residency at several locations over the years. Tommy now knows the future is full of opportunities for a talent like his.