Irma Thomas (Born 18/02/1941)

The Soul Queen of New Orleans (a title bestowed upon her by officials of the city) was actually born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, on February 18, 1941. She's been a constant and enthusiastic ambassador for the city throughout her life. Her parents moved to New Orleans when she was a baby, and lived in a rooming house behind the Bell Hotel. The motel lounge had a jukebox, which young Irma would sneak off and listen to. In that way, she was exposed to such R&B luminaries as Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, Joe Liggins, Lowell Fulsom, and Annie Laurie. Apparently, Irma's favourite record at that time was Percy Mayfield's 'Ida Red'.

She received her vocal training on Sundays at the Home Mission Baptist Church. Irma's sixth-grade teacher entered her in a talent contest at the Carver Theatre, which she won by singing Nat "King" Cole's "Pretend." But Irma's singing ambitions were sidetracked when she became pregnant at age fourteen. Feeling like an outcast, Irma washed dishes for fifty cents an hour, and her first marriage ended. During her second marriage, which produced two more children, Irma started singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgely at New Orleans' Pimlico Club. Ridgely hooked Irma up with Ronn Records owner Joe Ruffino, who was interested in recording her on a song called "Don't Mess With My Man." It was a solid first outing that reached number 22 on the Billboard R&B charts in 1960. There's no doubt that Irma had a tough time personally at this stage in her career, divorcing again by the time she was twenty and already mother to four children.

Thomas accused Ronn of withholding royalties and after the follow-up, "A Good Man," failed to chart, Irma, whose married name was Thomas (second husband), eventually moved on to Minit Records for some of the grittiest efforts she ever recorded, including 'Cry On', 'It's Too Soon To Know', 'It's Raining' and "'Ruler Of My Heart'. (Otis Redding later reworked the latter into his own hit, 'Pain In My Heart'). It was at this time she struck up a collaboration with songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, It also was not unusual for such luminaries of New Orleans R&B as Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill, Aaron Neville, and Benny Spellman to drop by the Minit studios and sing back-up on Irma's sessions. In 1964, Minit was acquired by Imperial, a subsidiary of Liberty Records. Irma's first single under this arrangement turned out to be her biggest hit. 'Wish Someone Would Care', a plaintive ballad that Irma wrote herself, reached 17 on the pop charts during its twelve-week chart run that spring. The B-side, 'Break-A-Way', became a chart single for Tracey Ullman some twenty years later (sigh). By the end of 1964, Thomas had placed three more Imperial singles on the Hot 100: 'Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)' (#52), 'Times Have Changed' (#98), and 'He's My Guy' (#63). A debut LP was assembled, and Irma Thomas hit the road to promote her songs.

Also in 1964, Irma recorded 'Time Is On My Side'. While her version failed to click, a cover by the Rolling Stones became the British group's first U.S. top ten hit. Irma did not consider the imitation of her sound as the sincerest form of flattery and the cover seemed to rankle with her for a very long time - not surprising I guess, since it was virtually a note for note cover. Imperial then terminated her contract and despite the creation of some high-quality music for such labels as Chess, Roker, Fungus, RCA, and Maison de Soul, Thomas never managed to duplicate the national success of "Wish Someone Would Care."

But that certainly hasn't stopped her. She remains active on the New Orleans club scene and has been highly popular in the Crescent City for decades. And in the '80s she was approached by Scott Billington of Rounder Records to make a comeback album, which became the "The New Rules" release. She's since released a number of worthy albums for Rounder ("The Way I Feel" and "Story Of My Life" for example), good but not spectacular. She also collaborated with Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson on the very enjoyable "Sing It" release from 1998. Particularly fine and recommended is the 2000 release "My Heart's In Memphis: The Songs of Dan Penn'. In 2006 she put together the Grammy nominated "After The Rain", collaborating with many who had been directly or indirectly affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Irma never achieved the success of contemporaries such as Aretha Franklin or even Etta James but she is viewed with similar affection by R&B and soul lovers and her recording legacy is more than worthy of investigation. 

Thanks to Dean Farrell for much of this entry