Irma Thomas

Irma Thomas is an American soul singer who emerged with the 1959 R&B hit “Don’t Mess with My Man” and scored pop crossover hits with the 1964 singles “Wish Someone Would Care,” “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand),” “Times Have Changed,” and “He’s My Guy.” Between 1964 and 2009, she released seventeen albums and earned the nickname “Soul Queen of New Orleans.”

Background

She was born Irma Lee on February 18, 1941, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana; the daughter of steelworker Percy Lee and house maid Vader Lee. She sang in the Baptist church choir and auditioned at age thirteen for the LA-based Specialty Records label.

Twice-divorced by age nineteen, she kept her second ex-husband’s surname and waited tables in New Orleans. She moonlighted as a singer for R&B bandleader Tommy Ridgley, who secured her a deal with Ron Records, a local soul-press that issued her first single.

Discography:

• Wish Someone Would Care (1964)
• Take a Look (1966)
• Down at Muscle Shoals (1967)
• In Between Tears (1973)
• The Soul Queen of New Orleans (1978)
• Safe With Me (1979)
• The New Rules (1986)
• The Way I Feel (1988)

Sources:

• Discogs: Irma Thomas
• 45worlds: Irma Thomas
• 45cat: Irma Thomas
• RYM: Irma Thomas
• MusicBrainz: Irma Thomas