Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States, the son of a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. He began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University, after having graduated from the Groton School. He majored in English literature. Many of his early recordings are versions of Lowland Scots and Appalachian folk songs. He regularly performed at the Club 47 coffeehouse in Cambridge, the Unicorn in Boston, and The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In the 1970s he lived in Deering, New Hampshire. Rush is credited by Rolling Stone magazine with ushering in the era of the singer-songwriter. In addition to performing his own compositions, he sang songs by Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Murray McLauchlan, David Wiffen and William Hawkins, helping them to gain recognition early in their careers. His 1968 composition "No Regrets" has become a standard, with numerous cover versions having been recorded. These include The Walker Brothers, who gave Tom Rush Top Ten credit as a songwriter on the UK Singles Chart, Emmylou Harris, who included the song on her 1988 album Bluebird, and Midge Ure whose cover also made the UK Top Ten. On March 1, 2007 a video of his performance of Steven Walters' "The Remember Song" was uploaded to YouTube, and, as of April 2017, it has received over 7 million plays. Writing on his website, Rush said, One of the earliest music videos produced for an artist by a record company, Elektra, can be found at his website. It was used to promote his signature song, "No Regrets" for his The Circle Game album. A number of recent videos from a 2010 concert performed in Old Saybrook, Connecticut can be found online. Tom Rush is married to author Renée Askins and was formerly married to singer Beverly Rush. Over the years Rush has used a number of guitars on stage, his current primary one a handcrafted acoustic made by Don Musser. In February 2012, Rush appeared on stage in Colorado with a new instrument, a cedar-top Dreadnought with an inlay of a snake wrapped around a reclining nude woman. The guitar, crafted by McKenzie & Marr Guitars is a "re-incarnation" of one of Rush's earliest acoustics, the famous "Naked Lady". On December 28, 2012, Rush appeared at Boston Symphony Hall to celebrate fifty years in the music business. With his new album Voices out, at age 79, Rush is still frequently performing, touring the United States, these days often accompanied on piano by Berklee graduate Matt Nakoa. In March 2020, Rush tested positive for COVID-19.
