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 ar ...

, London) is an English soul singer who had a successful solo career in the 1990s with eight UK top 40 singles and two

UK top ten The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

albums.

Personal life

Thomas grew up on Hillside Estate, Stamford Hill and attended

Cardinal Pole Roman Catholic School Cardinal Pole Catholic School is a mixed, voluntary aided secondary school located in the Homerton area of the London Borough of Hackney, United Kingdom. Following the 'Building Schools for the Future' programme, all pupils (years 7-13) are hou ...

in Hackney. He was a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

and a BT technician before embarking on a career as a professional singer. He now lives in Costessey near Norwich.

Career

Breakthrough and debut album

Thomas's breakthrough came in 1991 with his debut hit " Outstanding", a

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of the

Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, a ...

song, which went to number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. 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 tabu ...

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 Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

by Tim Lever and Mike Percy, formerly of the band

Dead or Alive Dead or Alive most commonly refers to: * Dead or Alive (band), a British pop band * Dead or alive, a phrase on a wanted poster Dead or Alive may also refer to: Film and television * ''Dead or Alive'' (1921 film), an American silent film dir ...

. Thomas's debut album ''Voices'' (1991) reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, selling over 300,000 copies. In February 1992 at the annual BRIT Awards, 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 ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

'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'' (G ...

stars including Shakin' Stevens 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 on their Autumn 2006 tour 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 Musicians from Islington (district) People from Stamford Hill British Telecom people People from Costessey