ABOUT | THOMAS KOVACS

FROM CORPORATE DESK TO SOLD OUT SHOWS!

The unlikely route from there to here:
At the youngish age of 50, Thomas Kovacs leaves his career as a computer programmer/analyst at a large Canadian corporation to pursue his passion for music full-time.

Highlights along the way …

1974

From a very early age, Kovacs always loved to sing and taught himself to play guitar. That's him wearing his "cool" hat and jamming with his high school best buddy.

1981

Kovacs's love for acting lands him a role in the Paramount Pictures horror cult classic: My Bloody Valentine. Here he is with Paul Kelman and Keith Knight.

1991

Tyler Viaene, Thomas Kovacs, Chris Taylor-Munro, John Carroll, and Sean Dimitrie together formed Sister Moon

Kovacs leaves his jazz vocal studies at Humber College to become lead singer of the band Sister Moon. They are flown to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf to perform for U.S. troops at the height of Desert Storm. Playing every night for five months in the two-hundred person bar of the Cunard Princess influences Kovacs's chops as an entertainer - close to 150 performances later, Kovacs returns to Toronto.

1996

Kovacs performing at the Kiwi Kick in Toronto's trendy Bloor West Village in 1997

Kovacs begins a five-year stint as the weekly house performer at a restaurant in Toronto's trendy Bloor West Village area. He builds upon the skills learned on stage in the Persian Gulf by singing for audiences seeking to leave their workweek behind for an evening of fun.

2001

Kovacs becomes a 'musician in residence' aboard an Adventure Canada expedition in the Arctic. (In 2023, Adventure Canada wins the top spot in the USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice for Best Adventure Cruise Line for the sixth consecutive year!) Between 2001 and 2022, Kovacs delivers his unique entertainment brand aboard twenty-six Adventure Canada expeditions. Staff include Bill "Father Goose" Lishman, Farley Mowat, and Margaret Atwood. These voyages take his singing talents to Iceland, Greenland, the Northwest Passage, numerous Inuit communities in Nunavut, Baja California, the Galapagos Islands, and the Antarctic.

2004

On his sixth Adventure Canada Arctic expedition aboard the Akademik Ioffe, Canadian author Margaret Atwood hands Kovacs a sheet of paper with lyrics entitled: Zodiac Driver. She graciously asks him to put music to them, which he did. Here she is, joining Kovacs onstage with her husband, Graeme Gibson, and the founder of AC, Matthew Swan.

2009

Kovacs receives the Toastmasters District 60 Best Humorous Speech Award by recounting his hilarious experiences performing for U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf.

2010

With music fiercely pulling at his heartstrings while still enjoying his career as a computer programmer/analyst, Kovacs leaves his corporate desk to become a full-time musician. That same year, he graduates from the online Berklee College of Music with a Songwriting Specialist Certificate. Here he is with two-time Grammy nominee and his Berklee lyric/songwriting instructor, Shane Adams.

2013

Kovacs moves from Caledon back to downtown Toronto where he now lives with the lady of his life, her teenage daughter and their black Lab. That's when he's not living in his car driving to and from shows in Barrie, Orangeville, Sauble Beach, Mississauga, Prince Edward County, Uxbridge, and Pickering.

2016

After a return to acting, Kovacs films a commercial with world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay.

Kovacs's heavy singing schedule eventually takes a toll on his voice. He undergoes surgery on his vocal cords with the same otolaryngologist who, in 2005 performed a similar operation on Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. For the several months following the successful surgery, Kovacs learns proper vocal technique to avoid injuring his cords again. Joyfully he regains full use of his voice.

2019

Joy is zodiac driving fun-loving passengers around gigantic icebergs, towering bird cliffs, and searching for polar bears on Kovacs's 20th Adventure Canada Arctic expedition.

2020

COVID-19 hits. In person bookings dry up. Kovacs pivots and creates a weekly online show on his Facebook page. Fans tune in from all over the world. Along the way, he writes a new song every week!

2022-2023

Kovacs returns to in-person performing, booking a blend of private events, restaurant and pub gigs, and soul-rewarding time-outs to write new songs. Life is good!

THOMASKOVACS