Born Irma Lee in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, Thomas had been married twice and had four children by the time she was nineteen.
Bandleader Tommy Ridgley discovered her while she worked as a waitress in the Pimlico Club in New Orleans and helped her secure her first record contract in 1959.
Nicknamed ‘The Soul Queen of New Orleans’, she later moved to the Minit label, working with Allen Toussaint, and when the company was acquired by the mighty Imperial label in 1963, a string of successful records in America followed.
Thomas poured it all out – helplessness, anger, and yearning – on her 1964 album, Wish Someone Would Care, mixing blues and soul nuggets (including a steamy, sensual version of Little Willie John‘s I Need Your Love So Bad) with poppier fare from emerging West Coast songwriters like Randy Newman (While The City Sleeps) and Jackie DeShannon (Break-a-Way, a briskly-paced teen psychodrama).
The standout track, though, was her cover of the brilliant Jerry Ragovoy-written song, Time Is On My Side.
The Rolling Stonesquickly covered the song as their debut US release, copying her arrangement and earning their first Top Ten hit. Thomas refused to perform it for the next 20 years in protest.
In May 2024, she appeared onstage with the Stones at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where she and Mick Jagger sang a duet of the song.
Her gorgeous 1964 ballad Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand) found a massive new generation of fans after being heavily featured in the dystopian television series Black Mirror.
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Thomas poured it all out – helplessness, anger, and yearning – on her 1964 album, Wish Someone Would Care, mixing blues and soul nuggets (including a steamy, sensual version of Little Willie John‘s I Need Your Love So Bad) with poppier fare from emerging West Coast songwriters like Randy Newman (While The City Sleeps) and Jackie DeShannon (Break-a-Way, a briskly-paced teen psychodrama).
