Tomáš Klus

Biography

Tomáš Klus (born 15 May 1986) is a Czech musician and songwriter from the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic.

Life and career

Klus was born in the industrial town of Třinec, where he spent most of his childhood. His parents were folk music fans, and he accompanied them to many concerts and music festivals. Growing up he was heavily influenced by musicians Karel Plíhal, Karel Kryl and in particular Jaromír Nohavica, who is still a major influence on Klus' music.
Klus moved to Prague aged 15 to pursue a sporting career, and was a member of the gold medal winning team in modern pentathlon in the 2002 European championship. However, he later became more interested in performance art and music.
In 2007 he was the winner of the Czech Talent Zlín competition. In 2008 he released his debut album, Cesta do záhu(d)by×Cesta do záhu(d)by29 February 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 19 tracks1Dopis3:272Kfjetina2:393Pocity3:134Do nebe2:285Až…3:336Panenka2:087Láska2:598Inzerát3:209Marie2:5010Jsousedky3:3911Pořád ta samá3:0012Mimorealita3:3213Válečná3:1914Čas4:2615Strojevůdce2:5616Balada3:0517Jednoduchá2:1318Jaroslava3:4419Š.a.M.a.N.3:10. The single "Do Nebe" was played on Czech Radio before the album was released. He also wrote music for the Czech film Anglické jahody ("English Strawberries").
In September 2012 he graduated in drama from the Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague.
In 2011 he released a song called "Pánu bohu do oken" ("Into God's windows") a song critical of Czech politics and the behaviour of Czech politicians. It was performed live at Český slavík 2011, a mainstream Czech music awards ceremony. On 26 September 2011, his album Racek×Racek23 September 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Teplota vody0:462Dobrý mrav(enci)2:493Pánubohudooken4:374Okoloběhu0:565Sibyla3:446Soběc4:047Dno za dnem3:508Textovka v hudbě0:359Podléhnutí2:3910Trigorin4:1811Nina4:4112Arkadina2:1013Treplev2:4414Ledaco2:0015Děkujeme za pozornost0:15 was released. It debuted at number one in Czech Album Sales Chart and it was certified Gold in its first week on sale. Racek spent 23 non-consecutive weeks at number one. It was the best selling album of 2011 in the Czech Republic, and later certified diamond.
Tomáš Klus' latest album, entitled Proměnamě×Proměnamě24 March 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Jsem3:262První píseň4:313Oblomov4:494Amores Perros2:045Vločka1:576Napojen3:497Procit4:198Narozeninovál3:109PanToffel1:3410Nezapomínej3:2911Žezlo4:2612Taneční2:2613Žabí král4:1614Noe2:5515Napojen II.1:5416Anna2:19, was released on 24 March 2014. It debuted at number one in Czech Album Sales Chart.

Political views

In March 2024, Klus posted a video on social media discussing the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, in which he expressed solidarity with people in Gaza, criticised the Czech government's stance on the conflict, and compared the continuing expansion of Israel to previous occupations of Czechoslovakia. "I would like to ask if, as a state that has a very bad experience with occupation, we should not be a little more sensitive to this issue and if we should ask our government how it is that it so vehemently and unconditionally stands behind a state that occupies another state," he said. Czech journalists including Ludek Fiala from Novinky.cz accused Klus of factually inaccuracies in his post and criticised him for failing to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Certifications

2009 – Gold album for selling more than 6,000 copies of "Cesta do záhu(d)by×Cesta do záhu(d)by29 February 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 19 tracks1Dopis3:272Kfjetina2:393Pocity3:134Do nebe2:285Až…3:336Panenka2:087Láska2:598Inzerát3:209Marie2:5010Jsousedky3:3911Pořád ta samá3:0012Mimorealita3:3213Válečná3:1914Čas4:2615Strojevůdce2:5616Balada3:0517Jednoduchá2:1318Jaroslava3:4419Š.a.M.a.N.3:10"
2010 – Gold album for selling more than 8,000 copies of "Hlavní úzavěr splínu"
2011 – Platinum album for selling more than 12,000 copies of "Hlavní uzávěr splínu×Hlavní uzávěr splínu12 October 2009 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 16 tracks1Neklid2:362DA.MUklův meč4:103VeSmíru3:104Psáno u zpráv2:135Nenávratná3:346AsiJat a Eva3:157Lenka2:058Z deníku (Grušence)3:249LeHomoLe1:5910Přičichnutí alergikovo3:0211Markétce3:291217B2:4013Sentiment na tři body2:5614Chybíš mi3:2915Malčik3:3316Navěky3:30"
2011 – Gold album for selling more than 6,000 copies of "Racek×Racek23 September 2011 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Teplota vody0:462Dobrý mrav(enci)2:493Pánubohudooken4:374Okoloběhu0:565Sibyla3:446Soběc4:047Dno za dnem3:508Textovka v hudbě0:359Podléhnutí2:3910Trigorin4:1811Nina4:4112Arkadina2:1013Treplev2:4414Ledaco2:0015Děkujeme za pozornost0:15"
2011 – Platinum album for selling more than 12,000 copies of "Racek"
2011 – Double platinum album for selling more than 24,000 copies of "Racek"
2012 – Diamond album for selling more than 50,000 copies of "Racek"