HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO IRMA THOMAS, THE SOUL QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS!

[NightTrain]

The Soul Queen of New Orleans (real name: Irma Lee) was actually born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, on February 18, 1941. Her parents moved to New Orleans when she was a baby, and lived in a rooming house behind the Bell Hotel. The motel lounge had a jukebox, which young Irma would sneak off and listen to. In that way, she was exposed to such R&B luminaries as Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters, Joe Liggins, Lowell Fulsom, and Annie Laurie. Irma’s favorite record at that time was Percy Mayfield’s "Ida Red."

She received her vocal training on Sundays at the Home Mission Baptist Church. Irma’s sixth-grade teacher entered her in a talent contest at the Carver Theatre, which she won by singing Nat "King" Cole’s "Pretend." But Irma’s singing amibitions were sidetracked when she became pregnant at age fourteen. Feeling like an outcast—after all, who looked kindly upon a teen-aged mother in Eisenhower’s America?--Irma washed dishes for fifty cents an hour, and her first marriage ended.

During her second marriage, which produced two more children, Irma started singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgely at New Orleans’ Pimlico Club. Ridgely hooked Irma up with Ron Records owner Joe Ruffino, who was interested in recording her on a song called "Don’t Mess With My Man." It was a solid first outing that reached #22 on the Billboard R&B charts in 1960.

After the follow-up, "A Good Man," failed to chart, Irma—whose married name was "Thomas"—moved on to Minit Records for some of her grittiest efforts ever—"Cry On," "It’s Too Soon To Know," "It’s Raining," and "Ruler Of My Heart." (Otis Redding later reworked the latter into his own hit, "Pain In My Heart.") It also was not unusual for such luminaries of New Orleans R&B as Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill, Aaron Neville, and Benny Spellman to drop by the Minit studios and sing back-up on Irma’s sessions.

In 1964, Minit was acquired by Imperial, a subsidiary of Liberty Records. Irma’s first single under this arrangement turned out to be her biggest hit. "Wish Someone Would Care," a plaintive ballad that Irma wrote herself, reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 during its twelve-week chart run that spring. (The B-side, "Break-A-Way," became a chart single for Tracey Ullman some twenty years later.) By the end of 1964, Thomas had placed three more Imperial singles on the Hot 100: "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)" (#52), "Times Have Changed" (#98), and "He’s My Guy" (#63). A debut LP was assembled, and Irma Thomas hit the road to promote her songs.

Also in 1964, Thomas waxed a song called "Time Is On My Side." While her version failed to click, a cover by the Rolling Stones became the British group’s first U.S. top ten hit. Suffice it to say, Irma did not consider the group’s imitation of her sound as the sincerest form of flattery.

Despite the creation of some high-quality music for such labels as Chess, Roker, Fungus, RCA, and Maison de Soul, Thomas never managed to duplicate the national success of "Wish Someone Would Care." But that certainly hasn’t stopped her. She remains active on the New Orleans club scene and has been highly popular in the Crescent City for decades. And in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Rounder Records issued several albums of new material on her.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRMA! :toast::bounce::party::yourock:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Love her!

Here's some Irma from the Rounder vault ( I LOVE Rounder Records)

http://www.rounder.com/index.php?id=catalogSearch.php&new_target=catalog&musical_group=Irma+Thomas