Tommy Bruce got into the hairstyling industry thanks to a recession not unlike the one we're living through now. Bruce, a St. Paul native, moved to New York for college in the early 1970s, hoping to break his way into fashion or music.
Instead, Bruce got distracted by the bright lights of the disco scene. His social life forced him to skip out on New York University, but it also brought him close to the white-hot light of fame. Bruce became friendly with Diana Ross, and she invited him and a friend to follow her to a movie shoot in Los Angeles, where he worked on costuming.
"She's supposed to be a diva," Bruce said of Ross. "But she was always sweet to me."
As the economy double-dipped under Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter, Bruce returned to Minnesota. There, he resumed work that he began as a young boy, when -- working on what he now calls "the worst hair" -- Bruce used to help his mother fix her appearance on her way out the door. She told young Tommy he'd someday be a hairdresser, which he resented.
"I've known I was gay since forever," Bruce said. "But there was still sort of a stigma [to hairdressing]."
Stigma or not, Bruce needed to find work in a down economy. At his first salon job, he apprenticed under a stylist who had worked with Vidal Sassoon. There, he learned a system that was all about angular cuts and geometric shapes; precision was everything. The rigorous standard served him well.
A criminally youthful-looking 66, Bruce said someday soon he will put down the scissors and pick back up the microphone. He moonlights as a jazz singer and plans to devote his retirement to booking more gigs.
He doesn't regret choosing the safety of styling over the possible heights that could have come in the fashion or music businesses. Bruce, who plies his trade at Salon Intrigue in St. Louis Park, has enjoyed steady, interesting work for more than three decades.
