Evelyn Thomas, influential disco singer, has died aged 70

21 July, 2024

NME Breaking News

Influential disco singer Evelyn Thomas has died aged 70. No cause of death has been given.

The news was shared by Northern soul legend Ian Levine, who took to X/Twitter to announce Thomas’ death. “It is hard for me to accept that my lifelong protege really has left us”, he wrote, adding that “her music will outlive us all”.

Levine worked with Thomas and co-producer Fiachra Trench to create the Hi-NRG classic ‘High Energy’ in 1984 and signed the singer to his label in 1975. Though the pair fell out of contact after their last recording session in 2009, Levine revealed that Thomas had “reached out to me in love” a few months ago knowing she was dying.

Upon hearing from Thomas, Levine and Trench “immediately dropped everything” to write one last song for her called ‘Inspirational’. Though Thomas was too sick to record the song, he revealed her daughter Kimberly (aka YaYa Diamond) intends to record the song as a tribute to her mother, adding that “Kimberly has been the most amazing and caring daughter”.

You can read the full tribute down below:

Evelyn Thomas was born on August 22, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. Working across genres such as disco, dance, and R&B, she was discovered by Levine in 1975, who signed her to his label.

Thomas scored her first hit with her debut single ‘Weak Spot’, whilst follow-up single ‘Doomsday’ would also enter the UK charts. The success of both songs, according to Levine, helped Thomas secure a flight to England to appear on Top Of The Tops in February 1976.

After that, Thomas signed to Casablanca Records, where she released her debut album ‘I Wanna Make It On My Own’ (written and produced by Levine and Trench). It was in 1984, however, where she scored her biggest hit ‘High Energy’ with Levine, which was “written uniquely and specifically for her”.

“Nobody else in the world could have ever sung it”, Levine added in his tribute. ‘High Energy’ went on to sell seven million records worldwide.

Thomas would go on to move to Levine’s new label Nightmare Records in 1986, where they would continue to work together until 1988. Thomas would have more dance hits in the form of her cover of ‘Reflections’ by The Supremes, which landed at Number 18, and ‘How Many Hearts’ at Number 11 – both of which appeared on her final album ‘Standing at the Crossroads’ (1986).

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