Cyndi Thomson (born October 19, 1976) is an American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist. Thomson wrote songs with songwriter
Tommy Lee James
Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer with Still Working Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia.
He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford Uni ...
and in 2000, she signed with
Capitol Records Nashville
Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...
as a recording artist. She released her first album, ''
My World'', in 2001 and her debut single, "
What I Really Meant to Say", became a number one hit on the ''
Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
Hot Country Songs) charts. She later abandoned her recording career in 2002, but resumed recording in 2006.
Biography
Early life
Cyndi Thomson was born and raised in
Tifton, Georgia, the youngest of four daughters for Pat and Russ Thomson. As a child, she was exposed to many different types of music. Her parents listened to the
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...
while her sisters listened to music by
Manhattan Transfer and
Janet Jackson among others.
As Thomson got older, she began singing in church like her sisters did. At the age of twelve, she knew that she wanted to be a singer and at thirteen, after listening to
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...
's "
She's in Love with the Boy", she knew that she wanted to be a country singer.
After graduating high school and winning a Georgia Music Hall of Fame scholarship,
Thomson attended
Kennesaw State University
Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...
in
Kennesaw
Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its ...
.
Feeling that her dream of being a country singer was not going to be realized staying in Atlanta, she moved to
Nashville, Tennessee. There, she attended
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It be ...
and enrolled in its music business program,
but dropped out after a year and a half realizing that school was not necessary for her to do what she wanted to do.
Thomson did various jobs while pursuing the recording career that she wanted, one of which was a modelling job at a party for
Deana Carter
Deana Kay Carter (born January 4, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter who broke through in 1996 with the release of her debut album '' Did I Shave My Legs for This?'', which was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States ...
's album ''
Did I Shave My Legs for This?
''Did I Shave My Legs for This?'' is the debut studio album by American country music artist Deana Carter, released via Patriot Records in the United Kingdom on February 27, 1995. Two singles were released from the album in the UK, "Angel Withou ...
'' going platinum.
One of the other models there later introduced Thomson to songwriter
Tommy Lee James
Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer with Still Working Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia.
He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford Uni ...
,
who wrote for
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were so ...
and
Martina McBride
Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material.
McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and reloc ...
.
Music career
Even though Thomson had never written a song before, James agreed to work with her and within a year of writing their first song, Thomson signed with
Sony-ATV Music Publishing as a songwriter.
In 2000, James introduced Thomson to
Capitol Records Nashville
Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...
which signed her to a record deal immediately after hearing her sing three songs.
Thomson co-wrote eight of the eleven songs on her debut album ''My World'', released on July 31, 2001. Co-produced by James and producer
Paul Worley
Paul Worley (born February 16, 1950 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American record producer and session guitarist, known primarily for his work in country music. Formerly a vice president at Sony BMG, he later joined the staff of Warner Bros. Re ...
, it became the best-selling debut album by a female country singer since
LeAnn Rimes' album ''
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
'' was released in 1996.
The album was certified gold, for selling more than 500,000 copies, by the
Recording Industry Association of America ten months after the album's release.
Lead-off single "
What I Really Meant to Say," written after an encounter with an older boy at a party one night,
spent three weeks at the top of the ''
Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now
Hot Country Songs) charts.
It also became the only debut single by a female country singer to spend more than one week at the top of the
Radio & Records country chart.
Her next two singles, "I Always Liked That Best" and "I'm Gone", failed to reach the top 20, with the former peaking at No. 21 and the latter peaking at No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
In late 2002, Thomson, in a letter written to her record label, fans and friends, announced that she was walking away from her recording career.
Thomson, who married musician and producer Daniel Goodman earlier that year, stated that being a recording artist was an "overwhelming life changing experience" and that she "cannot commit to
heobligations" of making a new album.
She did, however, contribute to the 2004 album ''Amazing Grace 3: A Country Salute to Gospel'', on which she sang "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus".
She also sang "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" for the album ''Christmas Angels'' released by Capitol Nashville in 2005.
"
Life Ain't Always Beautiful", co-written by Thomson and credited to her as Cyndi Goodman, became a top five hit for
Gary Allan
Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) is an American country music singer. Signed to Decca Records in 1996, Allan made his country music debut with the release of his single " Her Man", the lead-off to his gold-certified debut album '' U ...
in 2006. That year, she also returned to Capitol Nashville after leaving the label for four years and started recording for her second album with James.
She never released anything, however, and was once again dropped from Capitol's roster.
On October 29, 2009, Thomson released her first new music album in eight years, ''This Time'', a digital-only EP featuring five original songs.
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Singles
Music videos
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Cyndi
1976 births
American women country singers
American country singer-songwriters
Living people
Capitol Records artists
21st-century American singer-songwriters
21st-century American women singers
Country musicians from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)