Timothy Earle Thomas (November 13, 1944 – March 11, 2022) was an American R&B singer,

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

, songwriter, and record producer, best known for the

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 ...

song, "

Why Can't We Live Together "Why Can't We Live Together" is a song written and recorded by Timmy Thomas in 1972. A chart hit in the following year, it was included on the album '' Why Can't We Live Together''. It was one of the first major hits to feature the use of a rhyt ...

Life and career

Thomas was born in

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, on November 13, 1944, one of twelve siblings. He first attracted interest in his work as an

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in ...

with

Donald Byrd Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop m ...

and

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

, before working as a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, and releasing

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

on the

Goldwax Records Goldwax Records was an American record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in 1964 by Quinton Claunch and Rudolph V. "Doc" Russell. History Claunch was a hardware store owner who had previously worked as a country music guitarist, a ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. He had little

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

success until he moved to Glades Records in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and in late 1972 he released "Why Can't We Live Together". The record topped the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

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 ...

, made the top three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and top 20 in other countries including the United Kingdom where it peaked at 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 ...

. This disc sold over two million copies. He was earlier part of a group called Phillip & the Faithfuls, which also included the singer Phillip Reynolds, releasing material for the Goldwax imprint, including "Love Me", "What'Cha Gonna Do" and "'If You Love Her" (all in 1964). He then became a session musician in Memphis, continuing to release solo sides for Goldwax, including "Have Some Boogaloo". He also released "It's My Life" in 1967. In 1970, he had switched labels to the Climax imprint and one side called "What's Bothering Me". Relocating to Miami, Florida, in 1972, Thomas played sessions for the TK group labels, signing to the Glades Records imprint, where, later that year, he released "Why Can't We Live Together". Thomas followed up the release with "People Are Changin'" (B-side "Rainbow Power") which reached the charts in 1973. In 1974, he released the album '' You're the Song I've Always Wanted to Sing''. He went on to release six further Glades singles and then, in 1975 recorded a duet with

Betty Wright Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teena ...

entitled "It's What They Can't See". From 1976 through 1980, Thomas recorded singles for both the Glades imprint and the T.K. Disco label, including "Stone to the Bone", "Africano", "Touch to Touch", "The Magician", "Freak In, Freak Out" and "Drown in My Own Tears" and the albums '' The Magician'' (Glades, 1976) and ''

Touch to Touch ''Touch to Touch'' is an album by Timmy Thomas released during 1977. Track listing All tracks composed by Noel Williams; except where noted #"Touch to Touch" #"Africano" #"When a House Got Music" (Luther Dixon) #"Game of Life" (Timmy Thomas) #"Lo ...

'' (Glades, 1977). He also continued to work on sessions for

TK Records TK Records was an American independent record label founded by record distributor Henry Stone and Steve Alaimo in 1972. and based in Hialeah, Florida. The record label went bankrupt in 1981. "TK" was inspired by the initials of sound engineer Te ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

s, including

Gwen McCrae Gwen McCrae ( Mosley, December 21, 1943) is an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit " Rockin' Chair". Life and career 1960s–1970s Gwen was the youngest of five children, She began performing in local clubs as a teenager, and singing ...

, and in later years as a producer. Thomas went on to record several R&B hits culminating in "Gotta Give a Little Love (Ten Years After)", a U.S. top 30 soul entry in 1984 for Gold Mountain Records. Thomas appeared on Nicole McCloud's 1985 album ''What About Me?'', singing on a duet with her called "New York Eyes". This track reached number 41 in the UK. In the 1990s, he worked as a producer for

LaFace Records LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achie ...

and released the album ''With Heart and Soul'' for DTM Records. Also, his song "(Dying Inside) To Hold You" was a hit in the Philippines, and gained further popularity in 2017 when it was covered by

Darren Espanto Darren Lyndon Espanto (born May 24, 2001) is a Filipino-Canadian singer, actor and director. Espanto is 1.88 cm tall. He first joined a competition at the age of ten, where he won the Masters Finals of the ''Pinoy Singing Sensation'' compet ...

for the film '' All of You''. In 2015,

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

sampled Thomas' signature hit, "Why Can't We Live Together", on his single "

Hotline Bling "Hotline Bling" is a song recorded by Canadian rapper Drake, which serves as the lead single from his fourth studio album ''Views'' (2016). The song is credited as a bonus track on the album. It was made available for digital download on July 31 ...

". Thomas died of cancer on March 11, 2022, at the age of 77.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links