Tom Ameen

Los Angeles, USA

Stories from the Sea

Instrumental

Behind the Music

While getting to create music for this project was an incredible opportunity, one of my favorite parts of working on The Outlaw Ocean Music Project was having the chance to read Ian’s book and experience it as an artist. I’ve always had a fascination with the ocean, so these topics are really important to me. It stirred something in me to hear these firsthand accounts of what’s going on at sea and then turn that feeling into music.

Listening to a song can evoke so many emotions from a listener. It’s an experience that appeals to so many of our senses. When we hear a melody or tune, it can bring us back to a specific memory or place we recall from our past. When you have a great theme like the ocean combined with the stories Ian tells, putting that to music can give even more weight to the words of the book. It’s rare that we see a creative endeavor like The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, but it’s a marriage of storytelling mediums that I think is incredibly innovative and meaningful. I personally felt incredibly inspired by Ian’s reporting, and I think that comes through in the melodies and rhythms I’ve composed for this project.

Tom Ameen
About Tom Ameen

At the age of nine, Tom started to show a passionate interest in music with the guitar which, after playing it for a couple years, he became quite accomplished at. One Sunday, Tom’s family took him to see Superman II. He came home from the movie and, without a single lesson, sat down at the piano and played the theme song by ear.

Piano lessons immediately followed. In December 1998, Tom recorded his first album of all original music, “Treasure The Gift.” The next year, a meeting with piano sensation Jim Brickman led Tom to move to Los Angeles to further pursue his musical career. There Tom began working for Brickman, arranging and scoring various projects — such as “Beautiful World” and “Joy.” Inspired by the birth of his niece and nephews, Tom recorded his second album, “Little Miracles,” which was his first all solo piano CD.

Tom then released five albums with Mood Entertainment. The first two, “Lavender” and “Inner Peace,” are WalMart exclusives. The third album, “Love At First Sight,” is available through Amazon.com, and theme parks throughout the country. His project, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Starfish,” can be found at Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores.  Tom’s “Solo Piano Moments,” a collection of cover music featuring songs from Lady Gaga to Madonna, is available on iTunes. 

Tom then released four Disney themed albums, two of which made the top 10 Billboard New Age charts. His latest Disney album, “Old Time Magic” is out now.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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