Tom Leathers was born in 1971 under the name Thomas Pelzer and began to love music and learn to play the drums at the age of 15.
What started as a hobby quickly turned into a passion and he mastered the instrument more and more.
When he was 16, he began to meet other musicians for the first time and to found a band.
From then on, life as a musician was part of his normality. At first there were a few gigs here and there that he was grateful for, but as time went on he got noticed and he soon played with musicians who had more quality to offer.
In 1995, at the age of 24, he recorded his first CD with the band "Rose Colored Shades". At that time it was not that easy and natural to record an album and large sponsors were needed to cover the studio and production costs.
The music was somewhere between rock and hard rock and although he played the drums with enthusiasm, he had not yet found his line.
After a few years of successful tour with the "Shades" he left the band and found a connection with "The Backbeats". A cover band that put a lot of emphasis on detailed and clean playing. Tom felt challenged and accepted the challenge of further refining his game.
The band was only moderately successful because there were a lot of cover bands at the end of the 90s who were looking for their luck on the stages of the world, but the feeling was right and Tom stayed with these guys for many years.
In 2009 he received an offer from a musician in his city of Wesel on the Lower Rhine who wanted to found a Johnny Cash tribute band. His brother Marcus, with whom Tom had played in the same band for many years, also got the offer to take part. After the two met the singer, who had never sung in front of an audience before, but whose voice and appearance were practically the embodiment of Johnny Cash himself, the two immediately agreed.
Johnny Cash Experience was founded and quickly became so successful that the band was on stage practically every weekend of the year. Often there were 2 or 3 concerts on a weekend.
The press was consistently positive and the TV featured a report on the band in 2011 when, like their idol Johnny Cash, they performed in jail in front of inmates. The band drove spectacularly into the inner courtyard of the prison in an original Dodge Charger Sherriff car and the prisoners cheered through the bars of their cells down into the courtyard.
For 8 years he toured the country with Johnny Cash Experience and took care not only of the band's personal cohesion, but also of all advertising material such as posters, cover artwork for the 4 albums that were recorded during that time, website and much more.
In 2017 he felt the need to shift down a gear. After 8 years with very little private life, although he was married and had 2 children in the meantime, he wanted to spend more time with his family and decided to emigrate with them to Spain. He announced his plans to the band and met with full understanding. In October 2017 he gave his official farewell concert, at which he was celebrated outstandingly by both the band and the audience.
In 2018 he then moved to the Canary Island of Tenerife and put the music aside for the time being.
Life took its course and the rest was good for him.
In 2020, when the corona crisis began, he watched with concern as many people got worse. In many cases he tried to help people on an emotional level and also used his professional opportunities for good causes. However, it seemed like a drop in the ocean.
For him it was clear that it is important that people go through the crisis together and the more the society divided, the more the need to bring the world to mind, the good and bad no longer grew easy to distinguish from each other is what it once seemed to be. He found it important that people not only see enemies around them, but also learn to accept other opinions and treat each other with respect.
It was time to start a project that would bring this message to the world.
Little Red Riding Hood was no longer just innocent and the big bad wolf was no longer just bad.
He found an old 1966 song by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs called "Little Red Riding Hood" that told the story of Little Red Riding Hood from the wolf's perspective.
Shortly thereafter, a counterpart from The Sham-Ettes called "Hey There Big Bad Wolf" appeared, which was Little Red Riding Hood's answer.
It was now time to transport the song into the present day and merge it into a duet.
Together with Luna Seven and two musicians from his musical career, he re-recorded the song and started the project "Little Red Riding Hood".
Find out about his