Truth Thomas (born Glenn Edward Thomas in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, editor, publisher and founder of Cherry Castle Publishing, LLC. He is the author of ''Party of Black'' (2006), ''A Day of Presence'' (2008), ''Bottle of Life'' (2010), ''Speak Water'' (2012), winner of the 2013

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry, and ''My TV is Not the Boss of Me'' (2013), Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Award Finalist 2014, a children's book, illustrated by Cory Thomas. Thomas is the creator of fixed form of poetry known as "The Skinny." In addition, he has edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, including ''Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience'' (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2022),''The Skinny Poetry Anthology'' (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2019), and is the ''Editor-in-Chief of The Skinny Poetry Journal''. During his early music career (recording as Glenn Edward Thomas), his first full-length studio album, ''Take Love'', was produced in 1982 on

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

by ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series w ...

'' television show creator and host

Don Cornelius Donald Cortez Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show ''Soul Train'', which he hosted from 1971 until 1993 ...

. In 1992, Thomas officially changed his name from Glenn Edward Thomas to Truth Thomas.

Early life

He was born into an intellectual and musical family. His grandmother was a teacher, a soprano and a violinist. His mother was also a teacher and soprano, who was also a linguist and an accomplished pianist. All of Thomas' aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles played instruments, from French horns to cornets to trombones. He was surrounded by music as a child in the South, and mentored both by the music of his family and the music of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in

East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...

. In the late 1960s, after his family moved to the

Washington Metropolitan Area The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgin ...

, he spent much of his musical youth at Rock Creek Baptist Church on 8th and Upshur Streets, NW. Before Thomas fell in love with the piano, he played the violin, clarinet and guitar. Among his Washington, D.C. music mentors were drummer Michael L. Johnson and vocalist/percussionist Bobby Thurston of the band, Spectrum, Ltd. Thomas attended

Montgomery Blair High School Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a public high school located in Four Corners, Maryland, United States, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools. The school's total enrollment of 3,600 makes it the largest public high school in Montgo ...

. After graduation, he attended

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

in Washington, D.C., as a political science major by day, and a burgeoning singer-songwriter by night. While there, Thomas performed with the musical group Members Only and worked at clubs around the local D.C. area along with drummer George Jones, bassist Michael Paige, vocalist Patty Robinson (alto), percussionist Michael Smith and Angela Wray (soprano). He left Howard in 1980, without a degree, to pursue a full-time music career in Los Angeles. In 1981, Don Cornelius signed him to a production agreement with

(where he collaborated with O'Bryan and

Melvin Lee Davis Melvin Lee Davis is an American bass player, vocalist, keyboard player, producer, TV composer and engineer based in Orange County, California. He is the music director for Grammy-award winning artist Chaka Khan and has recorded with The Pointer ...

). After living and working in Los Angeles and London for many years, Thomas returned to the Washington Metropolitan Area in the early 2000s, where he began the formal study of poetry. In 2004, Thomas returned to his academic pursuits at Howard University, studying Creative Writing under Professor Tony Medina. Truth Thomas received his M.F.A. from

New England College New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the Ne ...

in 2008.

Present day

Truth Thomas is active as a poet, editor, publisher and singer-songwriter. His work has been featured in over 150 publications. It focuses largely on matters of race and social justice, both in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and worldwide. Regarding his aesthetic, Dr. Randall Horton writes, "Truth Thomas' genius lies in his ability to take us places where we've never been before…" His poems have appeared in magazines and anthologies such as: ''Poetry'', ''Apogee Journal'', ''The Scores Issue 9'', ''Beltway Poetry Quarterly'', ''Callaloo'', ''The Progressive'', ''The Newtowner Magazine'', ''Black Poets Lean South (Cave Canem Anthology)'' and ''The 100 Best African American Poems (edited by

Nikki Giovanni Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets,Jane M. Barstow, Yolanda Williams Page (eds)"Nikki Giovanni" ''E ...

)''. In 2010, he co-founded the Washington, D.C. based literary journal, the ''Tidal Basin Review'', along with poets Melanie Henderson, Dr. Randall Horton and Fred Joiner. He formerly served on the editorial board of the ''Little Patuxent Review'' and was a member at-large on the board of the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo). In 2012, Thomas founded the press, Cherry Castle Publishing, and also emerged from musical hiatus to sing with jazz saxophonist/composer/bandleader

Roy Nathanson Roy Jay Nathanson (born May 17, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader, actor and teacher. He became the leader and principal composer of the Jazz Passengers, a six piece group that he founded with Curtis Fowlkes in 1987. They have ...

of the

Jazz Passengers The Jazz Passengers are an American jazz group founded in 1987 by saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes. The band grew out of a partnership between Nathanson and Fowlkes in 1987, after the two had played with John Lurie's band Th ...

The Stone (music space) The Stone is a not-for-profit experimental music performance space located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York City. It was founded in April 2005 by John Zorn, who serves as the artistic director. It was named for the late Irving Sto ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 2013, Thomas won the

for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry for his ''Speak Water'' poetry collection.

Awards

*2008: Charles H. Chapman Award from

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity *2013:

for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry *2014: Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Award Finalist

Books

*''Party of Black''. flipped eye. 2006. . *''A Day of Presence''. flipped eye. 2008. . *''Bottle of Life''. flipped eye. 2010. . *''Speak Water''. Cherry Castle Publishing. 2012. . *''My TV is Not the Boss of Me''. Cherry Castle Publishing. 2014. .

Discography

*1982: ''Take Love''. Capitol Records ST-12230 *1996: ''Truth''. Cherry Castle Records *2002: ''If The Spirit is Willing''. Cherry Castle Records

Anthologies

*Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). "Urban Warming." ''Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology''. *Thomas Dodson, ed. (2013). "We Too, The Foundation." ''Best Indie Lit New England, Vol 1 (BiLINE)''. ASIN B00BB3EQHS *Jane Ormerod, ed. (2011). "Jacob's Reflections After the Bout." ''Uphook Press Anthology, gape-seed''. *Nikki Giovanni, ed. (2010). "Harriet Tubman's Email 2 Master," "Mississippi Fretless," "I Love it When You Call Me Big Country." ''The 100 Best African American Poems (Edited by Nikki Giovvani)''. ASIN B005HKV8IQ *Nikky Finney, ed. (2007). "Harriet Tubman's Email 2 Master,". ''The ringing ear: Black poets lean south''. *Randall Horton, ed. (2007). "Visiting Hours are Over," "Reflections: A River in Africa." ''Fingernails Across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS from the Black Diaspora''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Truth Living people Singer-songwriters from Tennessee American male poets American male singer-songwriters African-American poets American poets NAACP Image Awards Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee Howard University alumni New England College alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American people