Tom Kenny’s Syracuse roots run deep and in honor of his career in music, in cartoons and in comedy, he’s being honored back at home at the 2022 Syracuse Area Music Awards.
For the CNY native, the honor means so much because of where it hails from.
“It’s Syracuse. It’s my hometown. My roots are here. My family is here,” he says. “So the SAMMYs is Syracuse and it really means a lot. It’s really truly an honor.”
Tom was born and raised in East Syracuse and together with his longtime childhood friend Bob Goldthwait, created the popular comedy sketch troupe “Generic Comics.” Tom is most notably known and loved as the voice of “SpongeBob” but what many may not know is that he’s also a musician. He got his start in music in Syracuse performing with ‘The Tearjerkers” as a teen.
“Music has always been important to me and I’ve always played in bands and written songs for some cartoons myself,” he adds.
And working in cartoons and animation is a lifelong dream that he says he gets to live out every day. SpongeBob has been in production since 1999 and Tom adds that it opened many doors to so many conversations with people in many different ways.
“I’m doing what I always wanted to do as kid … the cartoon thing is every bit as fun and rewarding for me personally as I would have dreamed it would be. I love the job and I love the people,” he says.
The SAMMY Hall of Fame dinner is happening Thursday, March 3rd at The Dinosaur. Tom Kenny will be honored along with Los Blancos; Drummer Robert Tousignant; Trumpeter Jeff Stockham; Music Writer Russ Tarby; and Music Educator Avery Head. Tickets are available at the door and doors open at 6 p.m.
And if you’d like to hear Tom and his band, ‘The Hi-Seas,” they play Friday, March 4th at the SAMMY Awards at The OncCenter’s Crouse-Hinds Theater. Doors open at 6 p.m. The show starts at 7 p.m. To learn more visit, SyracuseAreaMusic.com.