Lol Tolhurst

Early years (1959–1975)

Tolhurst was born in Horley, Surrey, England, the fifth of six children of William and Daphne Tolhurst; he has three brothers (Roger, Nigel, and John) and two sisters (Jane and Barbara). Tolhurst was five years old when he first met Robert Smith at St. Francis Primary and Junior Schools, and thus began a friendship that culminated in the formation of The Cure.

The Cure (1976–1989)

Tolhurst is one of the co-founders of The Cure, and as a drummer he helped write and record the albums Three Imaginary Boys, Boys Don't Cry, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography. After the Pornography tour in 1982 Tolhurst assumed keyboard duties. In late 1988, with the recording of The Cure's eighth studio album Disintegration, some tensions surfaced, when Tolhurst was battling with alcohol and drugs. During the mix of Disintegration, he was fired from the band, and despite getting credit for 'Other Instrument', the other members of The Cure have said that Tolhurst never performed on the album.

After The Cure (1990–2010)

Following his departure from The Cure, Tolhurst and Gary Biddles—who previously worked with Simon Gallup in Fools Dance—formed the short-lived band Presence, which only released one full-length album called Inside. He said several years later that he recorded a second album with this band, but he said it is unlikely that it will ever be released. In 1991, Tolhurst's first son was born in London: poet and musician Gray Andrew Tolhurst. In 1994, he sued Robert Smith and Fiction Records over royalties payments, also claiming joint ownership, with Smith, of the name The Cure. He eventually lost after a long legal battle. He has worked as a producer for the debut album of And Also the Trees.

In the early 2000s, Tolhurst and his second wife, Cindy Levinson, formed a band called Levinhurst. A few months before the release of their debut album, Tolhurst said in an interview that he had reconciled with Robert Smith and that the two of them were friends again. Shortly afterward, Levinhurst released their debut album, Perfect Life, in 2004. Since then, they have also released an EP called The Grey featuring a cover of The Cure's "All Cats are Grey"—which he claimed credit for writing lyrically in another interview—and two other songs. Their second album, House by the Sea, was released in April 2007. Their third album, called Blue Star and featuring original Cure bassist Michael Dempsey, was released in the U.S. in June 2009 and worldwide in February 2010. He has also recently composed music for the film 9,000 Needles; a documentary that recently won "Best Documentary" at the Phoenix Film Festival 2010. The second part of the European tour "Blue Star Over Europe" was in October 2010, followed by a South and North American tour early in 2011.

Reunion shows with The Cure (2011)

In 2010, The Guardian published an article with a headline reading "The Cure's original drummer asks to rejoin band." However, Tolhurst called the article "a little misleading" saying:

I have not asked RS to rejoin the Cure! I have my thing, he has his. I just thought it might be fun to play the old songs together again especially as Michael and I had a great time playing the TIB songs this March in Europe.

In 2011, it was announced that Tolhurst would be performing with The Cure for the first time in 22 years when the band performed their first three albums—Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, and Faith—in their entirety at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Tolhurst then performed with The Cure on six more Reflections shows in London, New York and Los Angeles later that year.

Post reunion shows (2011-present)

Tolhurst published his memoir in 2016, he entitled it Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys. He tells of his time with the band between 1976 and 1989. Tolhurst has known Robert Smith since his childhood, says the band were like his family. The same year Tolhurst undertook an extensive book tour, beginning in United Kingdom and finishing in America.

Personal life

Tolhurst is married and lives in America. He has one child.

Discography

→ See Presence discography

→ See Levinhurst Discography