His father was Hercules L. Joyner and his mother was Frances. Both were highly educated and graduates of historically black colleges. Tom's family was generally well-educated; his mother was a secretary for the military and his father served as a Tuskegee Airman. His grandfather, Oscar, was reportedly one of the only 3,000 black physicians in the United States, with a recognized degree in medicine. Tom and his brother Albert were both good students, earning good grades. They both attended Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.

Tom graduated with a degree in sociology, which helped him develop his soft skills, even though he did not pursue it professionally. An interesting trivia about Tom's life is that while attending Tuskegee University, he was a member of the fraternity Omega Psi Phi, an international fraternity with over 750 undergraduate and graduate chapters.

Career

Initially, his dream was to become a professional musician, so he joined a band called The Commodores, where he met his college friend Lionel Richie. However, the band did not last long in the professional music industry due to a lack of income, so Tom's parents started pushing him to look for alternatives, suggesting that he leave the band. Although Tommy "The Fly Jock" - also known as "The Hardest Working Man in Radio" - had been involved with radio shows from his college years, he did not begin his broadcasting career until after graduation, when he worked at several radio stations based in the South and Midwest.

In 1978, he moved to Chicago to do the morning show at WVON. After several years of hard work, Tom signed two contracts for two separate positions in 1985, one in Dallas and the other in Chicago. By working long hours and flying between Texas and Illinois, he earned the two nicknames mentioned above. In 1994, he signed with ABC News and became the host of his own nationally syndicated program, The Tom Joyner Morning Show. In 2005, Tom launched The Tom Joyner Show, a one-hour comedy television show broadcast nationwide featuring sketch comedy, talent contests, and musical performances. Unfortunately, the show only ran for a year before it was canceled due to excess production costs. Now Tom can only be found on his Tom Joyner Morning Show, on the radio.

Personal Life

He has been married three times and has two sons with his first wife, Dora Chatmon Joyner, whom he calls Killer and Thriller. After their divorce, he married fitness expert Donna Richardson in roughly 2000, but they got divorced in 2012. Two years later, in 2014, he married Porsha Williams. During his marriage to Donna, he had an affair with Claudia Jordan, who was 24 years younger than him. While they were dating, he was said to be a good boyfriend who took care of all of Claudia's financial needs. Donna initiated the separation, and Claudia's ex-husband was reportedly behind her throughout the process. After their breakup, Claudia and Tom were dating, and Claudia mentioned that she was falling for Tom. The result of the settlement fight is not known, but both parties wanted to keep the process away from the media to avoid humiliation and other problems. The reason for his separation from Donna was his relationship with Claudia. With his wedding announcement to Porsha, it is evident that they have separated. Porsha is 30 years younger than him. Apart from having an active personal life, Tom is also a philanthropist, having established the Tom Joyner Foundation, which provides financial assistance to students at historically black colleges and universities. He has also been a public advocate for voter registration and participated in the 2011 Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's to raise awareness and funds for the disease and research on how to cure it.