Tommy Reilly was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, in 1919 and died in Frensham, England, in 2000.

His father, Captain James Reilly, was an accomplished musician, conductor of military bands and symphony orchestras, founder of one of the first jazz bands in Canada and also one of the first harmonica bands in the world at the Elmdale School in St Thomas, Ontario.

Tommy began violin lessons at the age of 8 and took up the harmonica three years later. He became a soloist with the band and won the gold medal at the Canadian Exhibition in 1932 and 1933. 

Shortly before the Second World War, he toured Europe's variety theatres as a harmonica player and was detained in internment camps in the German Reich as a citizen of an enemy country when the war broke out. During this time, he developed the classical way of playing the harmonica and thus opened up the instrument to classical music.