Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee along with her siblings, Marvel and Vaneese and their parents Rufus and Lorene Thomas. Rufus was the Palace Theater's Master of Ceremonies (MC) for their amateur shows and this access not only gave Thomas her first taste of the music world but
it also provided a springboard for her transformation into the Queen of
the Memphis Sound.
In Memphis, the African American centered WDIA radio station sponsored a rotating musical group of high school
students called the Teen Town Singers; notable alumni include Anita
Louis and Isaac Hayes.
Although the requirements to join the Teen Town Singers stated that the
person should be of high school age, Thomas became a member in 1952 at
the age of 10. She was able to sneak into their ranks thanks to the
fact that her father Rufus was an on-air personality for the radio
station.She
remained with the Teen Town Singers up until the end of her senior year.
Her first record, "'Cause I Love You", was a duet with her father,
with brother Marvell on keyboards, that was released by Satellite
Records, which eventually became Stax Records. Recorded when Thomas was
still attending high school, the record drew enough local attention to catch the interest of Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records.
He signed a deal with the owners of Satellite Records, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton,
to distribute "Cause I Love You" and thus paved the way for Thomas’
most famous single, "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)", reaching number 10 on
the pop chart and number 5 on the R&B chart. While she continued to
have success on the R&B charts throughout the 1960s, her only other
solo top 40 hit on the pop chart was "B-A-B-Y," reaching number 14 in
1966. Her duet, "Tramp," with Otis Redding reached number 26 on the pop chart the following year and her album of duets with Redding, King & Queen, was a number 18 hit in the UK Albums Chart.
After her last Stax recording in 1971, Love Means..., and an appearance in Wattstax in 1972, Thomas slipped into relative obscurity when compared to her
1960s musical heyday. However, she was featured in a number of
modern-day projects, notably including a 1994 compilation of her
greatest hits, a 2002 live recording of a Memphis performance and the
2007 release Live at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., a
long lost live recording of Thomas in 1967. She would also occasionally
tour during the 1980s and became heavily involved in the “Artists in the
Schools” program that provided Memphis schoolchildren with access to
successful artists. These workshops were organized to talk to teenagers
about music, performing arts and drug abuse. In 1993, Thomas was awarded the prestigious Pioneer Award, along with such musical heavyweights as James Brown and Salomon Burke, from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in honor of her career achievements
