Carla Thomas - Biography
By Nick Castro
Known not only as the daughter of Rufus Thomas, but also as one of the queens of the Memphis and Stax sound, Carla Thomas has carved a place for herself among the giants in soul music. Throughout the ’60s and early ’70s Thomas scored no less than 20 chart-topping hits, starting with her now-famous debut single on the Satellite label, “Cause I Love.” Since then, she has recorded with her legendary father and artists like Otis Redding, whom she performed with on the memorable soul duet, “Tramp.” That song—which featured Thomas ridiculing Redding for his bumpkin manner and Redding in turn feebly defending himself—is a famous slice of the comedic side of black American culture, and an example of ’60s soul’s diversity which Thomas helped broaden.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Thomas’ career began before she had turned 18 years old. She grew up under the roof of her father, who’d already become a local celebrity on the radio scene as both a singer and DJ, and by the local music of the area. In 1960, Thomas recorded a duet with Rufus entitled, “Cause I Love You.” The song became a regional hit throughout Memphis and surrounding areas. It also marked the beginning of a long-running career with Satellite Records for Thomas, the label that would become Stax.
Just a few years earlier while still in high school, Thomas recorded a demo of the song “Gee Whiz” for the Vee-Jay Records in Chicago. The label ultimately rejected it, not seeing it as marketable enough to sell. This proved serendipitous for Satellite, who immediately liked the recording of “Gee Whiz” and thought they’d uncovered a national hit. The song rapidly rose to the top on the national charts and made Thomas’s name as a solo artist. More importantly for the label, the song generated enough capital to take the company to the next level.
By 1961, Thomas, along with the newly-christened Stax label, had compiled enough material for her first solo album, Gee Whiz (1961 Stax). Besides the famous title track, the second single, the Thomas-penned “A Love of My Own,” also went into the Top 20 R&B charts. Covers of The Drifters’ “Dance With Me” and The Five Satins’ “To The Aisle” were also heralded pop numbers contained therein. Gee Whiz—which featured Chet Atkins’ backing vocalists, the Anita Kerr Singers—successfully reached a broader audience, though Thomas’ debut lacks some of the grit of later Stax recordings.
After years of successful singles, Thomas’ sophomore effort, Carla (1966 Stax), came out. The record was pure soul, and, as a collective work, it would prove to be one of her most famous. Aided by the musical genius of Stax pioneers Isaac Hayes and David Porter, the sound was distinguishable and timely. It was the Hayes and Porter tandem that wrote the lead track “B-A-B-Y,” which became one of the biggest hits for Stax and Thomas alike. The remainder of Carla has a definite punch and edge, both of which would become synonymous with the Stax sound. Before “B-A-B-Y” came out, the first single “Let Me Be Good To You” did quite well in its own right. The track was also penned by the Hayes/Porter team, which worked to Thomas’ strengths as a singer. Thomas showcased a youthfulness in her voice that missed some of the pain and experience needed to sing the blues—as evidenced on the Jimmy Reed cover, “Baby What You Want Me to Do?”—but she was beautifully suited to sing soul music.
Her next album would be a bit of a change from the previous efforts, especially as the label developed its identity. When Thomas released Comfort Me (Stax) in 1966, she had already been working on it for over a year. The album exemplified a transition from the earlier ’60s sound to the new zeitgeist of Stax Records, which found a flagship in Booker T. & the MG’s. The Southern soul band provided the backing grooves to all of the songs on Comfort Me, along with the legendary Mar-Key’s horn section. Stax songwriters and musicians Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd wrote the opening track, “Comfort Me,” a song that was coincidentally released as a single prior to the song “B-A-B-Y.” Thomas also co-wrote “A Woman’s Love” with Cropper.
Though she was receiving peripheral mainstream attention, Thomas’ albums always did better on the R&B charts than on the national charts. However, when she released King & Queen (1967 Stax) with Otis Redding on the eve of his tragic death in an airplane crash, that changed. The album did amazingly well on both the R&B and national charts, on the strength of the monstrous single, “Tramp.” The track would become one of the most famous soul songs from the 1960’s, breaking into the top 40 on the nationals and climbing to # 2 on the R&B’s. The Redding/Thomas pairing also had a big hit with the Cropper and Floyd-penned tune, “Knock on Wood.” One curious bit of trivia on King & Queen album is that the disc’s liner notes were written by Howard Baker, then the state senator of Tennessee.
Again, the soul singer would evolve in the latter part of the decade and into the 1970s. Thomas would release a Memphis-cum-Motown album entitled Memphis Queen (1969 Stax) before a more Detroit-oiled and poppier record, Love Means Carla Thomas (1971 Stax). The more polished songs, such as “You’ve Got a Cushion To Fall On,” found minimal success.
Carla Thomas was dubbed “The Queen of Memphis Soul” at the height of her career in the 1960s, when her album with Otis Redding came out. Her work has been formally recognized by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, founded in 1987 by Ruth Brown and Atlantic Records president, Ahmet Ertegun. Today she is considered one of the vanguards of the Stax sound. She still lives in the Memphis area.