Tom Kaulitz

Tom Kaulitz, (born 1989), is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, music producer. He is currently the guitarist for German rock band Tokio Hotel. He is the twin brother of Bill Kaulitz, who is the singer-lyricist of the band.

Early life

Kaulitz  was born on September 1, 1989 in Leipzig, Germany, just 10 minutes before his brother Bill.

At an early age, he was introduced to the guitar by his father-in-law Gordon Trümper, who is a guitarist himself. He liked playing the guitar and once he bought his own guitar, he started taking it seriously. He was regularly encouraged by his brother and father-in-law to take guitar lessons in Magdeburg.

In the ages 9 to 12, the two brothers adopted a rebel and provocative look. Tom started to sport dreadlocks and got a piercing in the lower lip, while Bill took on a dark look.

Musical career

In 2001, when they were 12, they formed a band Devilish. While performing at a party, they met Gustav Schäfer and Georg Listing. Gustav and Georg ended up joining Devilish, with Gustav as drummer and Georg as bassist. Shortly after, they received a contract from Sony BMG.

In 2005, Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, and “Hotel”, due to their constant touring and living in hotels. Shortly after, the band received a contract from Universal Music Group. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at No. 15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching No. 1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached No. 1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the No. 5 position in the German charts. 

On September 19, 2005, there released their debut album Schrei, which was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany. Tom, and Bill, were 16 at the time.

On June 4, 2007, they released in Europe the English version of the album, entitled, Scream. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from Tokio Hotel's German-language albums Schrei and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. They released their first US single, "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band.

The constant spotlight disturbed Tom and he decided to take a break from public life to focus on producing a new album. In August 2008, the band embarked on a second tour of North America, including a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, where they won the award for Best New Artist.

On October 2, 2009, they released their next studio album, Humanoid, in Germany. The album was recorded in both German and English, with both versions released simultaneously worldwide.

Personal life

Tom is married to German model Heidi Klum, who is 16 years senior to him. His first marriage from 2005-2008 was with actress/model Ria Sommerfeld.

The Tom and Heidi had been seeing each since Tom's split from Ria. On March 25, 2018, Tom was seen with Heidi in Los Angeles on the set of America's Got Talent. On April 8, 2018, they were again seen together in a villa in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. On May 17, 2018, their relationship was made official at the amfAR gala in Cannes. And they got engaged on December 24, 2018, which was announced by Heidi Klum on Instagram.

In an July 2008 interview, Heidi said of the age-gap in their relationship:

My boyfriend is many years younger than me, and lots of people are questioning that and asking about it...That's really the only time when age seems to be shoved in my face and I have to give an answer for it. I don't really think about it that much otherwise. You have to just live a happy life without worrying too much about what people think because worrying is only going to give you more wrinkles.

Philanthropy

Tom has been active in philanthropy and was present at the UNICEF Gala Evening in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, in August 2018. He was seen alongside Heidi Klum. In February 2019, they were present at the Elton John Association's anti-AIDS charity event during the 2019 Oscars in Los Angeles.

They were also seen at the AmfAR gala in favor of an evening that donates donations against AIDS in Paris.