Few people are blessed to do what they love for work. Fewer still live lives in which work and the act of living blur together. Tom was one of these: he lived a musical life.

Thomas William Fowler was born on June 10, 1951, in Salt Lake City, Utah to innovative jazz educator William and English teacher Beatrice. He was the third of five boys, with older brothers Bruce and Steve, and younger brothers Walt and Ed. All five were musicians, nearly fulfilling their father's dream of having a complete band. Tom started playing the violin at age 6, later focusing on upright bass and, inspired by Hendrix and Zappa, electric bass.

As a teenager, Tom went to San Francisco to join the progressive rock/psychedelic band It's a Beautiful Day. In 1973, with the help of bandmember Bruce, Tom joined Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. This proved a defining moment in Tom's career and led to his subsequent collaborations with other Zappa alums Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, and Banned from Utopia. Tom's jazz-inflected, technically superb playing, as well as his lyricism and wit as a songwriter, continued to develop in three albums with his brothers and two solo records. In the 90s, Tom began playing with Ray Charles, serving as his primary bass player for the last decade of Ray's life.

Tom was a child of the American southwest. He loved the landscape—"rusty devils of dust dancing out beneath the sage sky"—the freedom to roam, and the perspective of being a tiny part of a great expanse. When he finally settled down, Tom enjoyed working on his many home improvement projects and playing with his three doggos. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, Tom heard and took part in the music all around him, whether absurd ditties about an even more absurd world or the hidden rhythms in the continuous drone of MSNBC news.

Thomas William Fowler, age 73, passed away on Tuesday July 2, 2024, due to complications from an aneurysm. He was surrounded by loved ones and music when he passed. Tom is survived by his wife (Kai), four children (Jon, Joy, Pete, Melody) and their partners, brothers (Bruce, Walt, Ed), loving nieces and nephews, and friends from around the world. He will be sorely missed by all who knew or admired him, but even though he goes before us, in Tom's own words, "stars will still lead us home."