Thomas Mack Lauderdale was raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana and began piano lessons at age six. When his "rainbow tribe" family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who remains his coach and mentor today. At the age of 14, he made his first appearance with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Norman Leyden.
Active in Oregon politics since his years at Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor J.E. “Bud” Clark and Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt. In 1991, he worked for Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Willamette University in 2018.
Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment and affordable housing.
Now in its 27th year, Pink Martini and Lauderdale are Oregon’s “musical ambassadors to the world,” performing a multilingual repertoire on concert stages from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl to Royal Albert Hall, and with more than 50 symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. The band has released twelve albums on its own label Heinz Records, most recently "Je dis oui", featuring songs in Arabic, Turkish, French, Xhosa, Farsi, Armenian and English.
Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony, Pioneer Courthouse Square, the Oregon Historical Society and Confluence Project with Maya Lin.