Tim Arnold (musician)

In 1994, Arnold and the band moved from Hertfordshire to London. Jocasta had chart hits with "Go" and "Change Me" in 1997. The band's only album, No Coincidence was released in June 1997, but they disbanded soon after its release.

In 1999 he signed a publishing deal with V2 Music, and also became Master of Music at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, composing original music for Peter Oswald's 'Augustine's Oak', a new verse play written especially for the Globe. In 2000 his new band called Spearshaker recorded several songs at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales, which would later be released on Arnold's solo album 'En Route'.[17] In 2001, Arnold left V2 and signed to Universal Music Publishing. For two years, he wrote and produced music for newly signed artists at Universal, mostly pop, R&B, garage and hip hop.

In 2003 Arnold travelled to the Wat Tham Krabok Buddhist monastery in Thailand, where he was successfully treated for drug addiction.[18][19] Life at the monastery had a profound effect on Arnold who subsequently left London and moved to Thailand to live in the monastery, where the monks built him a recording studio.[20]

He recorded his debut solo album Lokutara with the monks who cured him,[21] in which the music was created by following cracks in the earth, which metamorphosed into pop rock melodies.[22]

A Tham Krabok success story,[23] Arnold returned to the UK in 2004. Over the following 18 months, he recorded and released 6 solo albums,[24] including Secrets of Soho[25] recorded in Francis Bacon's spiritual home (The Colony Room).

Arnold embarked on his 11th solo album Sonnet 155 by writing over 30 letters to Shakespearean actors, including Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Pete Postlethwaite, Richard Briers, Janet Suzman and Emma Thompson in the hope that they would provide further inspiration and help turn ideas into songs. The responses he received became the basis for many of Arnold's songs. The album is a rock/classical crossover all driven by Shakespearean themes.[26][27]

Sonnet 155 previewed to standing ovations at the Almeida Theatre, London (2 & 9 May 2010), a cross-media performance, including contributions from actors Richard Briers,[28] Paul McGann, Benedict Cumberbatch and Lisa Dillon.[29][30][31] The album also re-interprets classical pieces of music by Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov and Michael Nyman – each song a contemporary response to a Shakespearean theme. B7 Media are currently developing the format of the stage show with a view to taking Sonnet 155 on tour.

Tim Arnold live at Soho Theatre, London 2012.

In 2012, Arnold began performing new songs under the name The Soho Hobo. He performed several shows at The Soho Theatre, The Groucho Club and The Lexington with actors Jessie Wallace, Gary Kemp and Phil Daniels throughout 2012 and 2013 as showcases for his forthcoming album about Soho.[32]

In 2015 he gave the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson a guided tour of Soho as part of Arnold's Save Soho campaign. The pair were filmed by ITV news singing a duet of Arnold's song "Don't Go Changing Soho".[33]

In 2015 he also appeared on The Voice and after auditioning, was selected by Ricky Wilson.[34] By the second round, he was out of the competition losing his battle against eventual winner Stevie McCrorie. He released a single 'Hearts 4 Meat' in support of the Save Soho campaign that he leads with Stephen Fry and Benedict Cumberbatch. The song was inspired by Caitlin Moran's article in The Times 'Where is London If Soho Is Gone?'.[35] In July 2015, Arnold released his 14th album The Soho Hobo[36][37]

In 2019, he released "Don't Go Changing Soho", a Christmas tribute single to the area featuring Marc Almond, Boy George, Chrissie Hynde, Marty Wilde, Glen Matlock, Polly Perkins, Mari Wilson, Emily Capell, and Gary Kemp.[38]

While Arnold identifies his sexual orientation as straight, he has said in interviews that he comes from an LGBT background, being brought up by two women since birth, with an extended family of gay women and men.[41][42]

This distinction in Arnold's upbringing became the subject of media attention in 2017 surrounding the release of his song and video 'What Love Would Want'. Described by Fused Magazine as "A response to the divisive and for some, frightening times we are living in", Arnold's song was inspired by Emma Watson's speech on The United Nations's He For She Campaign and Stephen Fry's speech on the Catholic Church's condemnation of gay people.[43]

The song's video was published on 17 May 2017 to mark International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT).[44] Arnold supported the event with a series of live performances in Toronto on the day,[45] complete with a cruise boat choir performance on Lake Ontario.[46] "What Love Would Want" is one of the first songs to premiere via Blockchain technology with Canadian company Musicoin,[47] the world's first smart cryptocurrency for music[48] securing exclusive release of the song before its general release.

Actor Stephen Fry supported the song's message with an appearance in Arnold's video.[49] Arnold subsequently went on to support and work with Amnesty International at live events across the United Kingdom throughout 2017, including the petition hand-in at the Russian Embassy in London in protest of Chechnya's gay purge, where Arnold performed the song alongside campaigners Sir Ian McKellen, Peter Tatchell and Sir Michael Cashman.[50] Appearances at the Isle of Wight Festival with Human Rights activist Shane Enright and a performance at the Isle of Wight's inaugural Pride Festival and Hastings Pride were instigated by Arnold to promote Amnesty's Love Is A Human Right campaign.[51] Arnold's "What Love Would Want" has since become an ongoing multi-media project to promote love and diversity.

As founder and leader of the Save Soho group, Arnold succeeded in saving iconic venue Madame Jojo's and stopped Transport for London from closing Soho Square to make way for a work depot in the construction of Crossrail 2, as documented in his 2020 feature length documentary Soho Is...[52][53]