Thomas Trio and the Red Albino were a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stat ...

band from St. John's, Newfoundland, who were active from 1988 to 1993. They are best known for their singles "142 Thru" and "Sun Risin'". The band formed in 1988 as Thomas Trio, consisting of brothers Louis, David ("Lil") and Danny Thomas."Popular St. John's Band Breaking Up". ''

The Telegram ''The Telegram'' is a daily newspaper published weekdays and Saturdays (as ''The Weekend Telegram'') in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. History ''The Evening Telegram'' was first published on April 3, 1879 by William James Herd ...

''. Jody Richardson, nicknamed "The Red Albino" because of the juxtaposition between his red hair and pale skin, joined as vocalist soon after, adding his nickname to the band's name since they were no longer just a trio. Keyboardist Lori Cooper, Danny's wife,"Newfoundland quintet on a roll: Win at national rock showdown only the beginning". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'', April 19, 1991. was also later added to the lineup with no further name change. They released their debut album ''Jam It Inya'' independently in 1989, and in 1990 they competed in and won a national "battle of the bands" competition sponsored by

Molson Canadian Molson Canadian is a brand of 5% abv lager beer (4% in Ireland) brewed by Molson Brewing, the Canadian division of Molson Coors Brewing Company. The beer was introduced in 1959. Awards Molson Canadian has won several beer industry awards, inclu ...

; this, in turn, enabled them to represent Canada at the international Yamaha Band Explosion competition in Japan in 1991. Although they did not win that competition, favourable reaction resulted in them quickly building a reputation as a strong live band."Thomas boys track flight of the Albino". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

'', August 30, 1991. They then moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

to be closer to the centre of the Canadian music industry, although Cooper left the band at this time because she had just given birth to her first child and did not want to tour extensively, and was replaced on keyboards by Linda Kronbergs. In the same year they released a video for the single "142 Thru", and won a

CASBY Award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The ...

for Favourite New Eastern Canadian Group. "142 Thru" became the first independent video in the history of MuchMusic to be graduated from light to medium rotation. Their self-titled album was released on Cargo Records in 1992,"Trio keeping independence". ''

Halifax Daily News ''The Daily News'' was a tabloid newspaper in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that was published from 1974 until ceasing operations in February 2008. History ''The Daily News'' owed its existence to David Bentley, who, along with his wife Diana and Patri ...

'', July 24, 1992. garnering radio airplay for the single "Sun Risin'" and an appearance on ''

Friday Night with Ralph Benmergui ''Friday Night! with Ralph Benmergui'' was a Canadian television variety show, which aired on CBC Television from 1992 to 1993.Greg Quill, "Friday Night! at first glance". ''Toronto Star'', November 3, 1992. The show initially aired at 10 p.m., f ...

'' in early 1993."There's no influence like no influence, musicians say". '' Edmonton Journal'', March 26, 1993. By this time the band had such a strong reputation for its live show that Louis Thomas began extending a

money back guarantee A money-back guarantee, also known as a satisfaction guarantee, is essentially a simple guarantee that, if a buyer is not satisfied with a product or service, a refund will be made. The 18th century entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood pioneered many of ...

to any dissatisfied audience members. The band announced its breakup in summer 1993, before releasing another album, due to creative stagnation. They played a final show in Waterloo,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

on September 30 of that year, and later performed a one-off reunion show for a benefit concert in St. John's in 1997."Return of the Trio: One of the hottest bands ever to hit the local club scene is getting together one more time for a benefit concert". ''

'', May 16, 1997. Richardson went on to form the bands Fur Packed Action and Pathological Lovers, and took some acting roles including in the CBC Television sitcom '' Gullage's'' and the film '' The Divine Ryans''. Louis Thomas went on to become manager of Great Big Sea, Danny Thomas became a technician for bands including Great Big Sea, and Lil Thomas became a recording engineer in

Danny Greenspoon Danny Greenspoon is a Canadian music producer, music engineer, guitar player and film composer mainly in the Canadian music industry. Greenspoon is also the President of "The Audio Truck Inc.", a mobile recording studio recording materials for tele ...

's studio.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.thomastrioandtheredalbino.com/index2.shtml Musical groups from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian funk musical groups Canadian pop rock music groups Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1993