John Tu - Philanthropy Through Music

Drummer John TuJeanne MeyersAfter years spent building a multinational tech business, John Tu turned his attention to music. He learned to play the drums and would gather with a few friends in his home to make music. That was 27 years ago. Now, Tu is the leader of JT & Friends, a band of about 50 musicians who have taken their music to the stage - to celebrate art and culture, while raising money for nonprofits working for the common good.

Tu’s beginnings were international. Born in Chongquin, China, and raised in Shanghai and Taiwan, he spent his college years in Germany, where he studied electrical engineering. He moved to California in 1971. Nearly a decade later, he met his future business partner David Sun at a pickup-basketball game. Sun was an engineer in the computer industry, a field Tu found interesting. 

Tu and Sun would found two companies together. The first was Camintonn Corporation, a computer hardware and memory company they started in 1981 and, later, sold. The second was Kingston Technology, a computer memory company that began as a garage startup in 1987. Kingston blossomed into the multinational, multi-billion-dollar business they continue to run today. 

In the 1990s, Tu, who had always been a fan of music, decided to learn to play the drums and would practice and play with a small group of buddies. Keyboardist Stu Pearlman joined the group shortly after, when Tu decided to expand the group. “In 1999, I began playing piano with John Tu, marking the start of a remarkable musical journey that would grow far beyond what any of us imagined,” Pearlman said. “What started as a shared passion for music quickly evolved into a powerful collaboration built on creativity, professionalism, and a genuine love for performance.”

JT & FriendsJT & FriendsThe band steadily grew, adding talented and dedicated musicians who were serious about their craft. Rehearsals moved from Tu’s house to the Kingston Technology building. Their music was varied and eclectic - from Beach Boys songs to classic Big Band tunes. 

Tu started using the band, which he named JT & Friends, as a vehicle to help nonprofits by setting up performances and covering the costs. 

As the band matured, the venues became more sophisticated, among them the Verizon Amphitheater, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and the Hollywood Palladium. Their wide range of music reaches across generations; their performances united the crowds, bringing audience members to their feet in a celebration of music, dance, and cultures.

Over the years, Tu has supported a number of causes and organizations, including the UC Irvine School of Medicine, SoCal PBS, and Erin Gruwell’s Freedom Writers Foundation, an outreach program designed to improve classroom attendance, foster teacher-student engagement, and make campus life more inclusive. When the pandemic left an independent, Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper in Western Iowa in financial jeopardy, Tu made a sizable donation that allowed the paper to expand and save jobs. He is credited with preserving local journalism in the rural area. 

The pandemic meant Tu's own musicians were largely out of work. He decided to have each musician record a video performance from home. The recordings were edited together into a dozen entertaining productions that can be found on Tu’s website. This not only helped the musicians financially during an isolating time, it also enhanced community bonding and allowed them to continue collaborating and practice their craft remotely.

JT & FriendsMY HEROJohn Tu has been the subject of several MY HERO stories, including. one written by Stu Pearlman’s daughter Casey Pearlman, who penned a lovely, first-person account in 2007, as a young student attending a rehearsal:

Every Tuesday night, Kingston Technology comes alive with the sounds of the '60s and '70s. Parked just outside the corporate headquarters, I can hear the distant sounds of My Girl being played by a full orchestra. Walking into the rehearsal room, the swelling sound of violins and piano meets my ears. 

John Tu sits in the back, keeping a steady tempo on drums, with theatrical lights flashing around the nonchalant expression on his face. The singer, an impersonator from Las Vegas, croons Just My Imagination to his invisible audience. It's easy to say in the musical world that you are what you play. I think the fact that Tu plays the drums speaks a lot about his personality. He keeps everything in order at a steady pace and watches the music get set into motion. It was truly a beautiful sight to see all these talented musicians like my father in sync with this visionary tycoon.

(Read Casey's full story here.)

With one foot in the big tech world and the other in music and entertainment, John Tu blends the two realms using his successes in business and music to help organizations that serve the community. His passion for music, which he once shared with a handful of friends, has evolved into a multicultural collaboration that has entertained and inspired audiences for decades.