Tom Pomposello

After leaving Fred/Alan in 1989, Pomposello incorporated as Pomposello Productions, concentrating on advertising and television branding, and to pursue personal projects, working for Nickelodeon, TV Land, American Movie Classics, MTV, Old Navy, ABC, HBO Family, Turner Network Television (TNT), The Cartoon Network (CTN) and Noggin.

Blues is an itinerant profession at best, and by 1984, Pomposello found himself employed in New York City as a producer at Fred/Alan, Inc., the advertising agency started by former MTV executives Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert (also Tom's partner in Oblivion Records). He was able to use his music skills as the soundtrack producer of the groundbreaking Nickelodeon network identifications. Adding animation and television production to his skills, he quickly produced hundreds of spots for Nickelodeon (many featuring The Jive Five), Nick-at-Nite, as well as a music video with James Brown and Afrika Bambaataa for Fred/Alan's client Tommy Boy Entertainment.

In the early 1980s, Pomposello melded his performance abilities with his extensive musical scholarship. He toured of New York public high schools, under the auspices of BOCES of New York State (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), teaching students the history of American blues. Simultaneously, he taught music as a professor at Five Towns College in Long Island, New York.

Pomposello started flirting with the idea of recording his own music as early as 1970. He introduced himself to legendary country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, which led to gigs as McDowell's bass guitarist in New York City, famously in November 1971, when the two were recorded live in concert at The Gaslight Cafe for radio station WKCR by host Fred Seibert. The tapes eventually surfaced around the world on vinyl in 1972, when Pomposello and Seibert (with partner Dick Pennington) started Oblivion Records. Originally conceived as a vehicle for Pomposello's music, the vision of the company expanded when the commercial potential of McDowell's final recording was considered.

Tom Pomposello (July 17, 1949 – January 25, 1999) was an American roots musician, notably playing and recording with country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell, who also worked as a cable television and advertising producer for clients like Nickelodeon, Nick-at-Nite, and MTV. He died in a car accident outside of Kingston, New York in January 1999.