IRMA THOMAS

Nicknamed the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas never attained the level of commercial success enjoyed by some of her contemporaries; but it wasn't for lack of talent or tenacity.

She was born Irma Lee in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, on February 18, 1941. As a child, she listened to her father’s 78 RPMs of blues acts like B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield, and Lightnin’ Hopkins. In the third grade, she played the Fairy Godmother in her school’s production of Cinderella. At age 11, she performed at the Ritz theater’s talent night. She did so three times before winning first prize, five dollars.

At age 14, she became pregnant and married the baby’s father. During that short-lived marriage, Irma worked for 50 cents an hour as a dishwasher and sang in a gospel quartet at the Home Mission Baptist Church. By age 17, she was married to her second husband, Andrew Thomas, and had three children.

She subsequently found a waitressing job at the Pimlico club, where bandleader Tommy Ridgley played on Wednesday nights. After Thomas got the courage to ask Ridgley if she could perform a song, people started coming into the club asking for “the Singing Waitress.” When her boss fired Thomas for singing instead of waiting on tables, Ridgley came to her aid; he helped her land a record deal with the local Ron label. Her debut release, “Don’t Mess With My Man,” made the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart in the summer of 1960. By now, she was 19 years old, a mother of four, and a two-time divorcee.

She next recorded for the New Orleans-based Minit label, where she worked with songwriter/producer Allen Toussaint. Her Minit output included regional hits like “It’s Too Soon to Know,” “I Done Got Over It,” “It’s Raining,” and “Ruler of My Heart.” (Otis Redding would convert the latter into one of his early hits, “Pain in My Heart.”) She also sang back-up for her labelmates Aaron Neville, Ernie K-Doe, Benny Spellman, Lee Dorsey, Jessie Hill, et al.

In 1963, Liberty Records picked up the option to Thomas’ Minit contract and placed her on its Imperial subsidiary. Sensing that she was ready for the pop market, the label had Thomas record primarily in New York and Los Angeles. Her Imperial debut became her signature song. The self-written “Wish Someone Would Care” hit #2 R&B and #17 pop in the spring of 1964. Her follow-up, “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand),” was co-written by Randy Newman and country singer Jeannie Seely. Some 50+ years after its release, the song found a new audience when it turned up in the Netflix anthology series, Black Mirror. She also recorded “Time Is on My Side,” which the Rolling Stones copied note-for-note.

When Liberty declined to renew her contract in 1967, Thomas moved on to Chess Records. Her biggest hit there was a 1968 cover of the Otis Redding song, “Good to Me.”After her stint at Chess, Thomas relocated to California and recorded for various independent labels before she returned to Louisiana. She married her manager, Emile Jackson, in 1975. In the early ‘80s, she opened the Lion’s Den Club and took a break from recording. (The club went out of business after Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans in 2005.)

Thomas later signed with Rounder Records and, in 1991, received her first Grammy Award nomination for Live! Simply the Best. She also came out with several gospel albums and continued to record secular music. Her album Sing It! received a Grammy nomination in 1999. In 2007, Thomas won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album, After the Rain. That same year, she was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. In 2013 and ‘14, Thomas won the Blues Music Award in the “Soul Blues Female Artist” category. In 2018, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Despite her talent and tenacity, Irma Thomas never attained the level of commercial success enjoyed by some of her contemporaries—like Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, and Gladys Knight. Still, she remains an active performer, appearing annually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Rock critic Dave Marsh included “Wish Someone Would Care” in his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.

Charted singles:

“Don’t Mess With My Man” (1960) R&B #22
“Wish Someone Would Care” (1964) R&B #2, Pop #17
“Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)” (1964) R&B #29, Pop #52
“Times Have Changed” (1964) R&B #30, Pop #98
“He’s My Guy” (1964) R&B #24, Pop #63
“You Don’t Miss a Good Thing (Until It’s Gone)” (1965) Pop #109
“I’m Gonna Cry Till My Tears Run Dry” (1965) Pop #130
“Take a Look” (1965) Pop #118
“It’s a Man’s—Woman’s World” (1966) Pop #119
“Good to Me” (1968) R&B #42

Other notable Irma Thomas recordings include “Break-A-Way,” “Time Is on My Side,” “A Woman Will Do Wrong,” “Let’s Do It Over,” and “Security.”