Irma Thomas

singer

Personal Information

Born Irma Lee on February 18, 1941, in Ponchatoula, LA; married and divorced twice before 1960; children: four; married Emile Jackson c. 1976.
Education: Business degree.

Career

Soul singer. Debut single, "(You Can Have My Husband But Please) Don't Mess With My Man," 1959; first mainstream hit, "Wish Someone Would Care," 1964; took a job at Montgomery Ward c. 1969-; signed with Rounder Records, 1985; albums: The New Rules, 1986; The Way I Feel, 1988; Simply the Best, 1991; True Believer, 1992; Walk Around Heaven: New Orleans Gospel Soul, 1994; The Story of My Life, 1997; Sing It!, with Tracy Nelson and Marcia Ball, 1998; My Heart's In Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn, 2000,.

Life's Work

Her best-selling record, Wish Someone Would Care, was proof that soul singer Irma Thomas was at least as good as her contemporaries, such as Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick. Her influence reached such legendary acts as Otis Redding and the Rolling Stones, both of whom scored hits with covers of her songs. But Thomas herself enjoyed little commercial success. She was even forced to take a job at a Montgomery Ward store to support her children. She ultimately got her career back on track and was able to make a living singing. Rolling Stone called her a "vocal dynamo," but Thomas also was known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans."

She was born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana in 1941, but Irma Thomas's childhood was short-lived. She had her first child at age 14, and was a mother of four and twice divorced by the time she was 19. As a girl, Thomas admired Pearl Bailey and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and was fired twice from waitress jobs for singing at work.

At age 16, while working as a cocktail waitress, she sat in one night with veteran New Orleans bandleader Tommy Ridgley and his band, the Untouchables. Ridgley was so impressed with the teenager's vocal talents that he didn't waste time getting her into the studio to record her first single, called "(You Can Have My Husband But Please) Don't Mess With My Man," which was released on Ron Records. The song eventually climbed to the Top 30 on the R&B chart.

At 23, Thomas was sent to Los Angeles to record for Imperial Records, which had acquired her contract. The resulting album, Wish Someone Would Care, was a hybrid of her roots in blues and soul and the West Coast pop sound. The album showcased Thomas's "charged, tremulous voice," according to Rolling Stone critic Parke Puterbaugh, and featured the work of up-and-coming West Coast songwriters Randy Newman and Jackie DeShannon. The title track, which Thomas wrote, was a Top 20 hit, a major accomplishment for an American singer in the year of the British Invasion, when most chart-topping singles were coming from English bands. Wish Someone Would Care was Thomas's best-selling record.

The Stones Stole Her Thunder

On Wish Someone Would Care, Thomas recorded a version of "Time Is On My Side," which became her best-known song. The song was then quickly covered by the Rolling Stones, and gave the British band its first Top Ten hit. Some critics have noted that the guitar and vocals on the Stones's version were clearly influenced by Thomas's. Time Out critic Bob Bannister went so far as to say that lead singer Mick Jagger "recited Thomas's exhortations...to the letter" and that Keith Richards' guitar work "just as faithfully reiterated the bluesy twang" of the original guitarist. But Rolling Stone critic Puterbaugh declared Thomas's "the definitive rendition." As the story goes, Thomas was so annoyed that the Stones's version overshadowed hers that, for years, she rarely performed the song. Singer Otis Redding also scored a hit in 1964 with Thomas's "Ruler of My Heart," which he re-wrote and called "Pain in My Heart."

In 1969, after Hurricane Camille tore through the Gulf Coast region, Thomas moved to the West Coast, first to Oakland, California, then to Los Angeles. She recorded sporadically for labels like Canyon, Cotillion, Roker, and RCS, but none produced a successful release and the single mother took a job at a Montgomery Ward store to support her four children.

Things began to turn around for Thomas in 1976, and she returned home to New Orleans. She was welcomed back to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and with the help of new husband and manager Emile Jackson, began to rebuild her career. According to New Orleans magazine, Thomas's appearances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival were "legendary for the amount of showmanship" she brought to the stage. She, in turn, credited the festival for exposing her to a wider audience, citing the increase in sales of her records that typically followed her festival performances.

Back On Track

In addition to her appearances in and around New Orleans, Thomas began to build an audience oversees by touring Europe and Japan. In 1985, she signed a contract with Rounder Records, and proceeded to release a series of successful records, including The Way I Feel, Live! Simply the Best, and The Story of My Life. In 1993, Thomas fulfilled a life-long dream, and recorded a gospel record, Walk Around Heaven: New Orleans Gospel Soul.

She had never before worked with Rounder labelmates Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson, but Thomas had no trouble collaborating on a successful 1998 release with her fellow soul singers, called Sing It! Ball and Nelson were fans of Thomas's work, Nelson even admitted to singing along with her records. "Actually being in the same room and getting to sing with her in person was one of the highlights of my career, if not my whole life," Nelson confessed in Down Beat. Sing It! was released to strong reviews and was nominated for a Grammy award. The fact that the three singers' voices didn't blend perfectly worked in their favor. "The trio is by no means a classic harmony 'girls group,' as the individual personalities are still very much evident in the final product," Down Beat writer Michael Point wrote, "giving the music an exciting and unpredictable edge."

In 2000, Thomas released another collaboration, this time with songwriter Dan Penn. My Heart's In Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn featured three songs the two wrote together for Thomas's 1997 release Story of My Life, as well as new Penn songs, and songs from his catalog. Penn's "I'm Your Puppet," which appears on the album, originally was a 1966 hit for the duo James & Bobby Purify. On the album, wrote critic Time Out Bob Bannister, "Thomas characteristically balances a strong vocal personality with the wisdom to let the songs speak for themselves."

Although she never graduated from high school, Thomas earned a degree in business in 2000, at age 59. She continued to record for Rounder, doubting that she'd be happy in retirement. "I love what I do and will till I close my eyes," she said in Billboard.

Awards

W.C. Handy Soul/Blues Female Vocalist of the Year award (blues industry equivalent of the Grammy), 1995, 1997; Pioneer Award, Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Works

Selected discography

• Albums
• Wish Someone Would Care, Imperial, 1964.
• Take a Look, Imperial, 1968.
• In Between Tears, Fugus, 1973.
• Irma Thomas Live, Island, 1977.
• Soul Queen of New Orleans, Maison de Soul, 1978.
• Safe With Me, Paula/Flyright, 1979.
• Hip Shakin' Mama, Charly, 1981.
• The New Rules, Rounder, 1986.
• The Way I Feel, Rounder, 1988.
• Live! Simply the Best, Rounder, 1991.
• True Believer, Rounder, 1992.
• Walk Around Heaven: New Orleans Gospel Soul, Rounder, 1993.
• The Story of My Life, Rounder, 1997.
• Sing It!, with Tracy Nelson and Marcia Ball, Rounder, 1998.
• My Heart's In Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn, Rounder, 2000.

Further Reading

Periodicals

• Billboard, September 16, 2000.
• Blues Access, Spring 2000.
• Down Beat, May 1998, p. 52.
• New Orleans Magazine, April 1994, p. 54.
• New York Times, February 17, 1988, p. C19; October 9, 1992, P. C19.
• Rolling Stone, October 26, 2000, p. 116.
• Time Out, September 7-14, 2000.
• USA Today, August 29, 2000.

Books

• Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK Ltd., 1998.

Other

• Additional material was obtained online at http://www.amg.com and was provided by Rounder Records publicity.

— Brenna Sanchez

See Irma Thomas Lyrics

• Born: February 18, 1941, Ponchatoula, LA
• Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
• Genres: Rhythm & Blues
• Instrument: Vocals
• Representative Albums: "Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: The Irma Thomas Collection," "Time Is on My Side: The Best of Irma Thomas, Vol. 1," "True Believer"
• Representative Songs: "Ruler of My Heart," "It's Raining," "Time Is on My Side"

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, All Music Guide

Two Phases of Irma Thomas Buy this CD	Time Is on My Side Buy this CD	Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: The Irma Thomas Collection Buy this CD	Story of My Life Buy this CD	Wish Someone Would Care/Take a Look Buy this CD
50th Anniversary Celebration Buy this CD	Simply Grand Buy this CD	My Heart's in Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn Buy this CD	After the Rain Buy this CD	Time Is on My Side: The Best of Irma Thomas, Vol. 1 Buy this CD

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