Kenny Thomas (born 12 September 1968,

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

who had a successful solo career in the 1990s with eight UK top 40 singles and two UK top ten albums.

Personal life

Thomas grew up on Hillside Estate,

Stamford Hill Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about 5.5 miles north-east of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a sub-district of Hackney, the major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the ...

and attended Cardinal Pole Roman Catholic School in Hackney. He was a boxer and a BT technician before embarking on a career as a professional singer. He now lives in

Costessey Costessey ( ) is a civil parish centred WNW of Norwich in Norfolk, England. Three centres of population exist: the long-established town/village of Costessey (now commonly Old Costessey) (2011 population 7,265); New Costessey of similar popu ...

near Norwich.

Career

Breakthrough and debut album

Thomas's breakthrough came in 1991 with his debut

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

" Outstanding", a

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

of the Gap Band song, which went to number 12 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. He succeeded in having three singles in the UK

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

that year including his biggest hit in July, " Thinking About Your Love", which peaked at number four and stayed on the chart for 13 weeks, and " Best of You", which peaked at number 11 and was in the chart for seven weeks. The former hit was produced by

Tim Lever Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK top 40 and three albums on the UK top ...

and Mike Percy, formerly of the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Dead or Alive. Thomas's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

''Voices'' (1991) reached number three on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, selling over 300,000 copies. In February 1992 at the annual

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, Thomas was nominated for an award in two categories, Best British Male Vocalist and Best British Newcomer.

Second album and further singles

His second album ''Wait for Me'', released in 1993, was produced by Ian Green and included contributions from Nu Colours and the

Young Disciples Young Disciples was a British / American acid jazz band, formed in London in 1990 by Carleen Anderson ( vocals and keyboards), Marco Nelson (bass, guitar and organ) and Femi Williams (percussion and programming). Their most famous hit was th ...

, and made number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. The lead single from the album, "Trippin' on Your Love", originally recorded by the Staple Singers, made number 17 in the UK Singles Chart.

Later career

Thomas's career enjoyed a brief revival in 2005, when he took part in the televised singing contest on ITV's '' Hit Me Baby One More Time''. He was joined by other one time big

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

including

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, althoug ...

and

Shalamar Shalamar () is an American R&B and soul music vocal group active since the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Shalamar's classic line-up on the SOLAR label consisted of Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniel, together with dancer ...

; the show was eventually won by Stevens. Thomas supported

Level 42 Level 42 is an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s. Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on th ...

on their Autumn 2006

tour Tour or Tours may refer to: Travel * Tourism, travel for pleasure * Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service * Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus * Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...

of the UK. July 2006 also saw the release of a new studio album called ''Crazy World''. In 2010, Thomas completed three years of study graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine and is now a qualified practitioner. He released a new album, ''Breathe'', in September 2011. Producers on the album include the UK-based Mark Jaimes & Danny Saxon, 5AM, Sir Piers and the Drizabone Soul Family. Thomas's latest album and project was 2013's ''The Thomas Brown Affair''. It is a collaboration with hit songwriter, producer and jazz pianist Wayne Brown who has worked with a diverse array of international artists. The album is a collection of classic songs "performed in their own personal and unique style". In 2016, Thomas became the lead singer of the band Living in a Box after they reformed, replacing

Richard Darbyshire Richard Simon Darbyshire (born 8 March 1960) is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and songwriting coach. Richard Darbyshire is best known as the frontman for the 1980s synthpop group Living in a Box. Biography Early years Richard Darbys ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Kenny 1968 births Living people English pop singers English male singers English soul singers British contemporary R&B singers Singers from London People from Islington (district) People from Stamford Hill British Telecom people People from Costessey