Our business here at iotum is technology for communication, and last Wednesday one of our favourite communicators passed away, John Warren.
John was with FreeConference since its beginning at the turn of the millennium. iotum became steward of FreeConference.com a decade ago when we acquired the brand and added some fantastic new people to our crew. He retired from iotum in 2017, so for twenty years he built up the world’s first and most-loved Free Conference Calling service. He saw it begin, grow and transform from a voice-only, telephone-based service into the video calling, screen sharing, recording and collaboration SaaS you know and love today.
John was a great communicator, but he communicated best through music. In addition to being a skateboarder (well into his 60s!!), traveller, activist, gardener, photographer and accountant, John was a seriously accomplished musician.
You’ve heard his work before if you’ve listened to FreeConference.com’s hold music. Nowadays you can select hold music using one of our playlists -- like a jukebox -- and choose some of John’s favourites. The standard FreeConference.com hold music is an original composition made by John for us here at FreeConference. It’s no exaggeration to say millions have enjoyed John’s music. We’ll be adding more JW originals into our playlists.
A lifelong Californian, during the 1970s John studied music at Chapman University in Orange County, but for the better part of the decade hung out in Laurel Canyon during its creative peak. He met and partied with members of the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, CSNY, the Beach Boys and others. Later he went to UCLA, and he obtained credentials to do accounting work, but his main passion was always music.
John could play dozens of instruments. He was a capable sound engineer who helped produce countless recordings for and with his friends. His impact can be heard on both underground recordings and in published work. A large room in his house hosted a professional sound studio he called ‘Studio Wut,’ and it was filled with instruments and good times.
He leaves behind the love of his life, Beverly Thompson-Warren, as well as siblings, cousins and countless friends and colleagues. John died from cancer, but he lived for music and love.
If you wish to hear some of John’s great music, here is a small sampling of his compositions available at SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/studio-wut
https://soundcloud.com/gnarvalpolitics
We've put together a video tribute to honor as well to honor John, view here.
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