This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages) |
Carl Thomas | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Carlton Neron Thomas |
Born | Aurora, Illinois, U.S. | June 15, 1972
Genres | |
Occupation | Singer |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | Bad Boy (1997–2005) Bungalo (2006–10) Verve Forecast (2011–14) |
Carlton Neron Thomas [1] (born June 15, 1972) is an American R&B singer from Aurora, Illinois. He was discovered by American rapper Puff Daddy, who signed Thomas to the former's Bad Boy Records, a then-imprint of Arista Records in 1997. He became best known for his 2000 single "I Wish", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded his debut studio album, Emotional (2000).
The album and its follow-up, Let's Talk About It (2004), both peaked within the top ten of the Billboard 200, although the latter failed to spawn any charting singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and served as his final release with Bad Boy. He then signed with Bungalo and Universal Records to release his third album, So Much Better (2007), which moderately entered the Billboard 200, while his fourth, Conquer (2011)—released by Verve Forecast—narrowly did so.
Thomas was born in Aurora, Illinois [2] and attended East Aurora High School. [3] He sang around Chicago and became a member of a group called The Fourmula. He later branched out, however, and traveled to New York City, where he sang at clubs during open-mic nights. One such performance caught the eye of Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed Thomas to Bad Boy Entertainment in 1997. [2]
In February 2000, Thomas released his hit single "I Wish" (produced by Mike City). With the song topping the R&B charts for six consecutive weeks and creating strong interest, his debut album, Emotional , was released on April 18, 2000. On the strength of this single, and other singles such as "Summer Rain" which peaked at No. 18 and appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film version of Shaft , and the title track "Emotional" which reached No. 8 on the R&B charts, the album was certified platinum with over 1 million in sales. Later, rapper Jay-Z interpolated Thomas's "I Wish" on "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" from his 2000 album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia . Thomas also sung on the track "Everyday" from The Understanding by rapper Memphis Bleek. In addition, Thomas collaborated with rappers Cuban Link and Big Pun for the song "Cheat On Her" from Cuban's unreleased debut LP 24K.
Thomas's second album, Let's Talk About It , was released on March 23, 2004. The album's two singles, "She Is" and "Let's Talk About It", charted poorly. Lack of promotion (caused by the death of Thomas's brother Duranthony Evans, who was killed in a drive-by on Halloween night on Aurora's east side) was a contributing factor. [4] This devastated Thomas, causing him to take a sabbatical from his music and the promotion of the album. The album was highly anticipated due to the length of time that had passed since Emotional, but was not well received by fans. In 2005, Thomas was featured on R&B singer Amerie's second album Touch , on the ninth track, titled "Can We Go". On the 2006 2Pac album Pac's Life , he was featured alongside Hussein Fatal and Papoose on the track "Dumpin'".
On December 7, 2006, Thomas earned a Grammy Award nomination, along with Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams, and the late Gerald Levert, for "Everyday (Family Reunion)", a song from the soundtrack of Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion . The song received a nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocals. Thomas's third album, So Much Better , was released on May 30, 2007, and reached number 25 on the US Billboard 200 chart. [5]
Thomas's last recording contract was with Verve Music Group. His last album titled Conquer was released on December 6, 2011. The first single, "Don't Kiss Me", which featured Snoop Dogg, was written and produced by Rico Love.
In October 2004, following the release of Thomas's album Let's Talk About It, his brother Duranthony Evans, who worked as a corrections officer at the Illinois Youth Center in St. Charles, was killed in a drive-by shooting. [6] [7] The singer cancelled his tour to deal with his brother's death [2] and his record label established the Duranthony Evans Foundation in his brother's memory. [7] In 2019, Thomas underwent a surgical procedure to remove a noncancerous tumor in his salivary glands. [8]
Title | Album details | Peak positions | Certifications | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US [9] | US R&B [9] | |||
Emotional |
| 9 | 2 |
|
Let's Talk About It |
| 4 | 2 |
|
So Much Better |
| 25 | 2 | |
Conquer |
| 165 | 21 |
Year | Single | Chart positions [9] | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US | US R&B | |||
2000 | "Summer Rain" | 80 | 18 | Emotional |
"I Wish" | 20 | 1 | ||
"Emotional" | 47 | 8 | ||
2001 | "Can't Believe" (with Faith Evans) | 56 | 14 | The Saga Continues... / Faithfully |
2004 | "She Is" (featuring LL Cool J) | — | 56 | Let's Talk About It |
"Make It Alright" | — | 33 | ||
2007 | "2 Pieces" | — | 63 | So Much Better |
2011 | "Don't Kiss Me" | — | 54 | Conquer |
Shad Gregory Moss, better known by his stage name Bow Wow, is an American rapper and actor. His career began upon being discovered by rapper Snoop Dogg in 1993 at the age of six; five years later, he signed with record producer Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings, an imprint of Columbia Records. As Lil' Bow Wow, he released his debut studio album, Beware of Dog (2000) at age 13, and his second album, Doggy Bag (2001) the following year. Both met with critical and commercial success, the albums peaked at numbers ten and 11 on the Billboard 200, respectively.
New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, new jack swing was most popular from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Joseph Lewis Thomas, known mononymously as Joe, is an American R&B singer. He signed to Polygram Records in 1992, and rose to prominence after releasing his debut album Everything the following year. He followed it with a series of successful albums under Jive Records, including All That I Am (1997), the international bestseller My Name Is Joe (2000) as well as the multi-certified albums Better Days (2001) and And Then... (2003). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including the number-one hit "Stutter", the top ten entries "All the Things ", "Don't Wanna Be a Player", and "I Wanna Know" as well as his collaborations "Faded Pictures", "Thank God I Found You" and "Still Not a Player".
Big Tymers were an American hip hop duo composed of Cash Money Records co-founder Baby and the label's lead producer Mannie Fresh, both of whom originate from New Orleans, Louisiana. Active from 1997 to 2005, and once more in 2018, it was spun off from the label's supergroup, Cash Money Millionaires.
K-Ci & JoJo is an American R&B duo, consisting of brothers Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey and Joel "JoJo" Hailey. Natives of Charlotte, North Carolina, they are also the lead singers of the chart-topping R&B group Jodeci with the DeGrate brothers—Donald and Mr. Dalvin. They are best known for their 1998 single "All My Life" which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and received three Grammy Award nominations. They also guest appeared on the well-known Tupac Shakur 1996 again no.1 multi-platinum song "How Do U Want It", which was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997. K-Ci & JoJo also achieved mainstream success with the 1999 hit "Tell Me It's Real", which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Their 2001 song, "Crazy", was included on the Save the Last Dance soundtrack and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Jonathan Arthur "Chico" DeBarge is an American R&B singer and musician. DeBarge was formally a member of the DeBarge family musical group DeBarge. As a solo artist, he scored a 1986 US Top Forty hit with the song "Talk to Me".
Lloyd Polite Jr. is an American R&B singer. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Decatur, Georgia, he began his musical career as a member of the preteen-boy band N-Toon, which was formed by Joyce Irby in 1996. The group disbanded in 2001, and Polite signed with record executive Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2003 to pursue a solo career. His 2004 debut single, "Southside" peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and led his first album Southside (2004), which entered the Billboard 200 at number 11. His second album, Street Love (2007) debuted at number two on the chart and was supported by the Billboard Hot 100-top 20 singles "You" and "Get It Shawty".
Christopher Alan "Tricky" Stewart is an American record producer, record executive, songwriter, and music publisher. Stewart, a five-time Grammy Award recipient, began producing music in 1992 and has contributed to unit sales of over 50 million for his work on hip hop, R&B and pop releases. Often in tandem with production partner and R&B singer The-Dream, he has been credited on the singles "Case of the Ex" (2000) by Mya, "Me Against the Music" (2003) by Britney Spears, "Umbrella" (2007) by Rihanna, "Just Fine" (2007) by Mary J. Blige, "Single Ladies " (2008) by Beyoncé, "Touch My Body" (2008) and "Obsessed" (2009) by Mariah Carey, "One Time" (2009) and "Baby" (2010) by Justin Bieber, "Ride" (2010) by Ciara, and "Water" (2023) by Tyla, among others.
Donell Jones is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from Chicago, Illinois. He met record producer Eddie F in the mid-1990s and signed with his record label Untouchables Entertainment, beginning his career as a songwriter for its parent label, LaFace Records. He signed with the label as a recording act to release his debut studio album, My Heart (1996), which was met with lukewarm commercial reception despite yielding his first Billboard Hot 100 entries with its singles "In the Hood", and his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet."
Eric Roberson is an American singer, songwriter, former rapper and music producer. He is sometimes referred to simply as Erro, the name which he later used as part of his label Blue Erro Soul. His first single, "Represent", was released through Warner Bros. Records in 1994 and he recorded an album for that label which remains unreleased.
"4, 3, 2, 1" is a song by Queens rapper LL Cool J featuring Method Man & Redman, Canibus and DMX from LL Cool J's seventh album Phenomenon as the second single. It was released on December 9, 1997, for Def Jam Recordings and was produced by Erick Sermon. The single featured an extended version not featured on the album featuring an additional verse from Southern hip hop rapper Master P. Both the original song and the extended cut had accompanying music videos. The song peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 10 on the Hot Rap Singles and number 24 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Emotional is the debut album by American R&B singer Carl Thomas. It was released by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records on April 18, 2000, in the United States. Emotional earned Thomas a nomination in the Best R&B/Soul Album at the 2001 Soul Train Music Awards, also garnering him a Male & Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist nod. "I Wish" was also nominated for Best R&B/Soul Single.
Let's Talk About It is the second album by American R&B singer Carl Thomas. It was released by Bad Boy Records and Universal Records on March 23, 2004 in America. Originally scheduled for a November 18, 2003 release, the album was delayed several months due to Bad Boy entering into a new distribution deal with Universal Records.
"Day Dreaming" is a soul single by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released from her album Young, Gifted and Black, it spent two weeks at the top of the Hot Soul Singles chart in April 1972 and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the Easy Listening singles chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 61 song for 1972.
Dijon Isaiah McFarlane, known professionally as Mustard, is an American record producer and DJ. A frequent collaborator of fellow California-based artists YG and Ty Dolla Sign, he began his career producing singles and albums for both rappers, and has since done so for other prominent acts in hip hop and R&B. He first saw recognition for his work on Tyga's 2011 single "Rack City".
"Let Me Know" is a song by American singer Tamar Braxton, featuring collaborative vocals by American rapper Future. Epic and Streamline Records released it as a digital download on October 7, 2014. Initially promoted as the lead single from Braxton's fourth studio album Calling All Lovers, it was replaced by her 2015 release "If I Don't Have You" and was only included on the record's Walmart deluxe edition.
"All Things Go" is a song by Trinidadian-American rapper and singer Nicki Minaj from her third studio album, The Pinkprint (2014). It was released on December 3, 2014, by Young Money, Cash Money, and Republic Records as the first promotional single and opening track from the album. The song has since peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Trinity Laure'Ale Home , better known by her stage name Tink, is an American rapper and R&B singer from Chicago, Illinois. She signed with record producer Timbaland's Mosley Music Group, an imprint of Epic Records to release her 2014 debut single, "Treat Me Like Somebody". Her 2015 single, "Million", entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100. Both produced by Timbaland, the songs were intended to precede her debut studio album Think Tink, although disagreements with the producer led her to part ways with the label in 2017.
Quantavious Tavario Thomas, known professionally as Young Nudy, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, he is known for his collaborations with his cousin and fellow rapper 21 Savage, as well as record producer Pi'erre Bourne. Thomas signed with RCA Records to release his debut studio album Anyways (2020), which was followed by Dr. Ev4l (2021), Rich Shooter (2021), EA Monster (2022), and Gumbo (2023). The latter spawned the single "Peaches and Eggplants", which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Layton Greene is an American singer from East St. Louis, Illinois. She is best known for her 2019 single "Leave Em Alone", which peaked at number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Previously in January of that year, she signed with Georgia-based record label Quality Control Music as its first female R&B artist. Her debut extended play (EP), Tell Ya Story, was released on September 9, 2019.