Irma Thomas

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Born Irma Lee on February 18, 1941, in Ponchatoula, LA; married & divorced first husband (name not known); married Andrew Thomas (divorced); married Emile Jackson (her music business manager), 1976; four children. Worked as a restaurant cook; began performing in New Orleans clubs, 1958; released first single, "You Can Have My Husband (But Don't Mess With My Man)," 1959; signed to Minit Records, late 1950s; during the early 1960s recorded "Time Is On My Side"; recording career sidelined by other trends in music; worked as a sales clerk in Montgomery Ward department store in Los Angeles, CA; signed with Atlantic Records, early 1970s; also recorded for the Cotillion label, mid-1970s; began performing again in New Orleans, late 1970s; signed to Rounder Records and released comeback album The New Rules, 1986; appeared on such television programs as Austin City Limits and the 48th Annual Grammy Awards; appeared in films Make it Funky!, New Orleans Music in Exile, and New Orleans Story. Awards: Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, for After the Rain, 2006; Blues Music Awards, Soul Blues Album of the Year, for After the Rain, 2007; recipient of numerous humanitarian awards for public service work in New Orleans. Addresses: Record company—Rounder Records, One Camp St., Cambridge, MA 02140, website: http://www.rounder.com. Management—Emile Jackson, P.O. Box 26126, New Orleans, LA 70186-6126, phone: 504-245-1719, fax: 504-246-3542. Website—Official Artist Website: http://www.irmathomas.com.

Singer

The story of R&B singer Irma Thomas seems the ideal candidate for a film biography. "Honey, my story sounds like a black version of the Loretta Lynn story," Thomas once joked with a writer from the New Yorker. The Louisiana native cut her first record while a teen single mother in the late 1950s, and went on to have a nominally successful recording career. During her early peak, a combination of the 1960s British Invasion groups and cataclysmic weather put her career under water in New Orleans, so she packed up her four children and moved to California, alternating performing gigs with a day job as a sales clerk. Returning to New Orleans in the mid-1970s, Thomas has since enjoyed the support of a loyal fan base and has had a successful recording career on Rounder Records, culminating in a 2006 Grammy Award.

Recorded for the Ron, Minit, and Imperial
Born Irma Lee on February 18, 1941, in the small town of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Thomas's family moved her to New Orleans when she was still a baby. She learned her craft while singing in her Baptist church choir, and she reveled in gospel artists like Mahalia Jackson and the Five Blind Boys. However, as she became a teenager, she embraced the secular sounds of artists like Pearl Bailey, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Faye Adams, and Lowell Fulsom, and her father's favorite, Percy Mayfield. After her sixth grade teacher entered her in a talent contest, where she won first place singing Nat "King" Cole's "Pretend," she unsuccessfully auditioned for Art Rupe's Speciality label at the tender age of 13.

A mother at 15, her first marriage ended quickly despite the arrival of a second child. She then married Andrew Thomas, whose last name she still uses professionally, and gave birth to two more children before divorcing him. To support her family, the 20-year-old Thomas found employment in restaurants around New Orleans, usually as a cook or dishwasher. While waiting tables at the Pimilico Club in New Orleans, Thomas boldly asked bandleader Tommy Ridgely if she could sing a number. "I do know I was a ham," Thomas told Advocate writer John Wirt. "I didn't have any problems with standing up and singing in front of an audience." Thomas's performance with Ridgely went over well with the audience and she soon began splitting up her singing and waitressing shifts, much to the annoyance of the club's manager. Forced to choose between waiting tables or singing, she chose singing and was promptly fired.

With Ridgely's help, Thomas began playing in other New Orleans clubs and auditioning for various record labels. She cut her first record, "You Can Have My Husband (But Don't Mess With My Man)," in 1959 for the local Ron label; it was an immediate hit, peaking at number 22 on the national R&B charts, but scoring much higher in New Orleans. Today the song is equally well-known as a staple of blues shouter Koko Taylor's repertoire. After a dispute over royalties, Thomas left Ron and signed to Minit Records, where she began collaborating with legendary producer and writer Allen Toussaint. The songs released during this era—"It's Raining" and "I Done Got Over It"—achieved "a modern soul sound, but with a powerful blues interest," noted Down Beat writer Terri Hemmert. Her chart prospects improved when after a brief stint on Bandy, she signed with Imperial, where her label debut, "I Wish Someone Would Care," reached number 17. Despite solid regional bookings, Thomas was certainly not getting rich off the proceeds of her hits. "That was the scheme of things when I got into this business," she recalled to the Advocate, referring to the raw deals young African-American artists were sometimes signed to in exchange for their talent. "It had nothing to do with my being young and naive. … That was a situation where what you didn't know did hurt."

Another song Thomas recorded during the early 1960s was not particularly successful for her, but it went on to bigger fame when covered by another act, a young, undiscovered English rock band called the Rolling Stones. When the Stones recorded her "Time Is On My Side," it became their first Top Ten hit, reaching number six during late 1964. Thomas continued to perform it for a number of years, but eventually ceased because fans thought she was paying homage to them.

Moved to California
Thomas worked the New Orleans/Gulf Coast circuit for the rest of the 1960s, but unfortunately the popularity of her particular brand of R&B had waned in favor of British acts, the Motown sound and, later, the Philly sound and disco. Switching to Chess Records in 1967 did little to perk up her flagging career. On a personal level, when Hurricane Camille wiped out all the clubs at which she had been booked along the Gulf Coast in 1969, Thomas packed up her children and moved to Los Angeles.

From the start, things were difficult for Thomas in California. "It was a very cliquish situation," she told Wirt. "It wasn't what you knew and how good you were, it was who you know. I didn't know anybody." She took a job as a lingerie sales associate at a Montgomery Ward department store, and performed in local clubs as well as farther north around San Francisco and Oakland. She recorded for such independent labels as Canyon and Roker before Atlantic Records offered her a deal. However, she viewed the sessions as disastrous. "The producers wanted me to sound like Diana Ross," Thomas recalled for St. Petersburg Times reporter Tony Green. "I have no idea why, because I have my own voice, which I feel is just as strong as hers. To me the whole session was a joke." The studio work in L.A. went nowhere, but Thomas did eventually land steady work performing in the Oakland and San Francisco area. After a time she relocated her family farther north, and got herself transferred to a Montgomery Ward store there.

During the 1970s Thomas recorded some material for the Cotillion, Swamp Dogg, and the oddly named Fungus label without much success. Yet, when visiting home she found that New Orleans audiences were again eager for her particular brand of soul. She began traveling back and forth between California and Louisiana, and when she found herself spending more time on the road than at home, she moved back to New Orleans in 1976. Performing in the plethora of blues and R&B clubs that her hometown had to offer, Thomas also found love when she met Emile Jackson one night. A year after they were married, Thomas made him her business manager. "I figured [my husband] would be the best judge of whether I wanted to do something or didn't want to do it," she told the New Yorker in 1988. "And I figured he'd have my financial interests at heart, because they'd be his financial interests, too."

Made Comeback at Rounder
Once her club career was on solid footing, Thomas began recording again. The recordings she created for Maison de Soul, RCS, and Sounds of N.O. (New Orleans) varied in quality. Due to lack of distribution and promotion, they barely sold outside of New Orleans.

When a New Orleans writer saw Thomas perform one night, however, he recommended her to the famed jazz, R&B, gospel, roots and soul label Rounder Records for their forthcoming compilation New Orleans Ladies. The record company liked her work so much they offered her a contract, and her comeback began in earnest with the 1986 LP The New Rules. She worked closely with producer Scott Billington, and other stellar recording efforts followed, including The Way I Feel and True Believer. "Thomas now joins ranks with Tina Turner and Ruth Brown, women who have made significant contributions to the R&B scene of the '50s and '60s and have returned decades later with fresh energy and maturity," Hemmert wrote.

Rounder sent Thomas on tour, and one particular gig at a club in San Francisco owned by 1970s rocker Boz Scaggs was put down on tape. The result was Irma Thomas Live: Simply The Best, a strong set featuring her own band The Professionals. Released in 1992, the album earned her a Grammy Award nomination. Rounder also offered the singer a chance to explore another facet of her musical abilities on vinyl: gospel. Back in New Orleans Thomas had become the featured soloist in her church's gospel choir despite a busy secular recording and performing career. The First African Baptist Church of New Orleans was the city's oldest African American congregation. In 1994 she used her love of this musical form when recording Walk Around Heaven: New Orleans Gospel Soul. Two big names in the city's gospel scene, Sammy Berfect and Dwight Franklin, collaborated with Thomas on the record. It was her first pure gospel effort. As the singer explained to Green, she refused to "mix the two; when I'm on stage I basically sing R&B and blues. I was raised in the church, so I know mixing the two is wrong." Ron Wynn reviewed Walk Around Heaven for CD Review and asserted that "Thomas simply sings God's music with the same passion, power, and integrity she's always brought to her own."

Thomas, who tours extensively, no longer shies away from performing "Time Is On My Side" in her well-attended club appearances. Contemporary singer Bonnie Raitt convinced her to start singing it again one night at the Hard Rock Cafe in New Orleans. "Go ahead on and sing it regardless of what people think," Thomas recalled Raitt saying, according to the Advocate. "Just sing it! You do it better than they do anyway." Thomas also began a venture that hearkened back to her early years when she opened her own club, the Lion's Den—she cooks food at home and carts it in for the audience. The singer also uses her local celebrity in New Orleans for various good causes, in particular as an advocate for at-risk youth. Happy to have such a rich life after so many years of hard work, Thomas claims to feel more comfortable with her voice at a later age. "It has matured, yes," she told Wirt. "I can hear a major difference in the voice of the 17-year-old and the voice of the 54-year-old. My voice has deepened somewhat. I have a better grasp and understanding of music and how to perform it than when I was younger."

Thomas made her first international appearance in 1994 and has found herself booked more frequently throughout America. She was playing a gig in Texas when Hurricane Katrina devastated her beloved New Orleans in 2005. Her musical response was the powerful acoustic disc After the Rain, which had been in the works before the storm. "This is raw Irma," she told BroadwayWorld.com. "Very acoustic. It kinda brought me back to going to school, when we did thing[s] a cappella, maybe one instrument, maybe a piano." The album, which seemed to comment on the disaster and its aftermath through the lyrics of established songs by the likes of Arthur Alexander, the Drifters, and Blind Willie Johnson, won Thomas a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blue Albums.

As a result of these events, Thomas has unintentionally generated a lot of attention just when many felt that her career was winding down. Juggling a full complement of bookings, and with plans for an autobiography and film documentary, she has viewed the sudden upsurge philosophically. "I am getting a lot of work," she told Broadway World.com, "a lot of interviews [about New Orleans], and they have all been to the good. I am looking at it this way: I am kind of like the ambassador, in a sense, that everyone is not doom and gloom in New Orleans and that we are getting through this, one day at a time."

Selected discography

Singles
"You Can Have My Husband (But Don't Mess With My Man)," Ronn, 1959.

"It's Raining," Minit, 1961.
"I Done Got Over It," Minit, 1963.
"Two Winters Long," Minit, 1963.
"I Wish Someone Would Care," Imperial, 1964.
"Time is On My Side," Imperial, 1964.
"Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)," Imperial, 1964.
"Times Have Changed," Imperial, 1964.
"He's My Guy," Imperial, 1965.
"Good to Me," Chess, 1968.

Albums
Wish Someone Would Care, Imperial, 1964; reissued, Collectables, 2006.
Take a Look, Imperial, 1968; reissued, Collectables, 2006.
In Between Tears, Fungus, 1973.
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Island, 1976.
Soul Queen of New Orleans, Maison de Soul, 1978.
Irma Thomas Sings, Bandy, 1979.
Hip Shakin' Mama, Charly, 1981.
Safe with Me [Live], Paula, 1981.
The New Rules, Rounder, 1986.
The Way I Feel, Rounder, 1988.
Ruler of Hearts, Charly, 1989.
Something Good: The Muscle Shoals Sessions, Chess, 1990.
Irma Thomas Live: Simply The Best, Rounder, 1991.
True Believer, Rounder, 1992.
Time Is On My Side: The Best of Irma Thomas, Vol. 1, EMI/America, 1992.
Walk Around Heaven: New Orleans Gospel Soul, Rounder, 1993.
Turn My World Around, Shanachie, 1993.
Live at the Kingfish, RCS, 1994.
Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: The Irma Thomas Collection, Razor & Tie, 1996.
The Story of My Life, Rounder, 1997.
(With Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson) Sing It!, Rounder, 1998.
My Heart's in Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn, Rounder, 2000.
If You Want It, Come and Get It, Rounder, 2001.
A Woman's Viewpoint: The Essential 1970s Recordings, Ace, 2006.
After the Rain, Rounder, 2006.

Sources
Books
Jancik, Wayne, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, Billboard, revised and expanded, 1998.

Periodicals
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), May 5, 1995.
Chicago Tribune, June 16, 1994.
CD Review, July 1994.
Blues Access, Spring 2000.
Daily World (Helena, AR), October 4, 1995.
Down Beat, May 1990.
New Yorker, July 11, 1988.
Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994.
St. Petersburg Times, October 21, 1994.

Online
Grammy.com, http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/49th_Show/list.aspx. (February 12, 2007).
"Irma Thomas," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com. (September 5, 2007).
"Irma Thomas," Internet Movie Database, http://www.imdb.com (September 5, 2007).
"Irma Thomas—Soul Queen of New Orleans," Broadway World.com, http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=11956 (September 5, 2007).
Additional information for this profile was obtained from Rounder Records publicity materials, 1995.

• Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

The unrivaled Soul Queen of New Orleans -- a title officially bestowed by local officials, no less -- Irma Thomas ranks among Crescent City R&B's greatest and most enduring musical ambassadors, never enjoying the coast-to-coast commercial success of contemporaries like Aretha Franklin and Etta James but nevertheless breathing the same rarified air in the minds of many soul music aficionados. Born Irma Lee in Ponchatoula, LA, on February 18, 1941, as a teen she sang with a Baptist church choir, even auditioning for Specialty Records as a 13-year-old. A year later, she gave birth to her first child, marrying the baby's father and subsequently giving birth to another child before the union dissolved. At 17 she wed again, this time to one Andrew Thomas, having two more babies before she again divorced, all before the age of 20. Keeping her second ex-husband's surname, Thomas went to work as a waitress at New Orleans' Pimlico Club, occasionally sitting in with bandleader Tommy Ridgley. When the club's owner dismissed her for spending more time singing than waiting tables, Ridgley agreed to help her land a record deal, setting up auditions with the local Minit and Ronn labels. The latter issued her saucy debut single, "You Can Have My Husband (But Don't Mess with My Man)," in the spring of 1960, and the record quickly reached the number 22 spot on the Billboard R&B chart. However, Thomas accused Ronn of withholding royalties and after one more effort for the label, "A Good Man," she briefly landed with the Bandy label, releasing 1961's "Look Up" before relocating to Minit.

Thomas' first Minit release, "Girl Needs Boy," inaugurated a collaboration with songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint that would continue throughout her tenure with the label; although none of her six Minit singles were significant hits, each was brilliant, in particular 1962's "It's Raining" (memorably revived by filmmaker Jim Jarmusch for his cult classic Down by Law) and the following year's "Ruler of My Heart," reworked by Otis Redding as "Pain in My Heart." Imperial Records acquired Minit in 1963, and Thomas' contract was included in the deal. Her first single for the label, the starkly intimate "Wish Someone Would Care," capitalized on Imperial's deep pockets to vault into the Billboard pop Top 20, while its Jackie DeShannon/Sharon Sheeley-penned B-side, "Break-a-Way," proved a massive hit on New Orleans radio, later accumulating cover versions by singers from Beryl Marsden to Tracey Ullman. The follow-up, "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)," was even better, a magnificent ballad featuring one of Thomas' most finely wrought vocals, but was not a hit. Likewise, its Jerry Ragovoy-penned B-side, "Time Is on My Side," had its fans, not the least of them the Rolling Stones, who scored a massive hit with a virtual note-for-note cover version. Thomas closed out 1964 with a pair of minor chart entries, "Times Have Changed" and "He's My Guy," both of them written by Van McCoy; for subsequent efforts including "I'm Gonna Cry Till My Tears Run Dry" and "The Hurt's All Gone," she even traveled to New York City to record with hitmaker Ragovoy, but despite the pedigrees of those involved, her commercial momentum dissipated, and following the chart failure of 1966's James Brown-produced "It's a Man's-Woman's World," Imperial terminated her contract.

Thomas next signed with Chess Records, traveling to Rick Hall's legendary Muscle Shoals studio Fame to cut 1967's "Cheater Man." Neither that record nor its follow-up, "A Woman Will Do Wrong Charted," had much success, but her third Chess single, a reading of Redding's "Good to Me," was a minor R&B chart entry in 1968. It was not enough to extend Thomas' relationship with Chess, however, and she spent the next several years outside the studio. In the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Camille, she relocated her family to Oakland, CA, in 1969, later settling in Los Angeles. During this time Thomas supported her children by working at retailer Montgomery Ward, resurfacing on record with 1971's Cotillion label release "Full Time Woman." Later that year, she also issued "Save a Little Bit" on the tiny Canyon label, followed in 1972 by "I'd Do It All for You." Thomas returned in 1973 with "These Four Walls" on Roker, followed by three singles on the horribly named Fungus label: "You're the Dog (I Do the Barking Myself)," "In Between Tears," and "Coming from Behind." She relocated back to New Orleans in 1976, a year later issuing "Hittin' on Nothin'" and a re-recorded "Breakaway" on Maison de Soul; in 1980, Thomas surfaced on the RCS label with Safe with Me, an ill-conceived LP that sought to update her sound to approximate disco-era R&B. It was the last record she would make for six years.

In the interim, Thomas accelerated her live schedule. With husband/manager Emile Jackson, she opened the Lion's Den, a New Orleans club where she regularly headlined, and she also toured Europe, where her records still merited regular airplay. In 1985, she was approached by Rounder Records producer Scott Billington to make a comeback record. The New Rules appeared the following year, earning solid reviews and selling respectably. The Way I Feel hit stores in 1988, and with 1991's Live! Simply the Best, Thomas earned her first-ever Grammy nomination. The following year she issued True Believer, and in 1993 released her first gospel effort, Walk Around Heaven. She waited until 1997 to release her next secular record, The Story of My Life, blaming the delay in interviews on her difficulty in finding material appropriate to her age and sensibility. Thomas shifted gears radically for 1998's Sing It!, which paired her with devout fans Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson; two years later saw the release of My Heart's in Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn, with Thomas tackling both Penn classics ("I'm Your Puppet," "Woman Left Lonely") and original compositions. After the Rain, released in 2006, was nominated for a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy. Simply Grand was issued on Rounder Records in 2008, and featured Thomas in an acoustic setting accompanied by a host of piano players, including Dr. John, Ellis Marsalis, Randy Newman, and others. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

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