HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRMA THOMAS (& MY MUM)
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE SOUL QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS!
Time is on her side: eyes on the prize - Irma Thomas circa 1964. Courtesy of Ace Records.
February 18th is an important date in the calendar to me. This is because it marks the birthday of two women who have made a big impression on my life – in very different ways. Firstly, my dear mum celebrated turning 90 on Tuesday in Auckland. While on that same date, Irma Thomas turned 84 in New Orleans.
I wish them both the very happiest of birthdays and hope they enjoy many more years of good health and activity. Right now both are very active – my mum belongs to three walking groups, gardens, cares for her partially disabled 95 year old sister and sings in a community choir, while Irma continues to sing to audiences in the US and internationally and is active in her church choir (and on community matters) when home.
I don’t need to list all the reasons why my mum is important to me – she’s my mum and she’s great! – but Irma might seem a somewhat more odd individual to celebrate. For a start, she’s an African American singer and not in any way related to me (or a personal friend). No matter, I’ve loved Irma’s music since I first came across her in 1980. This was via an LP compilation of New Orleans R&B, one of those magic slabs of music that introduced teenage me to Irma (singing the ethereal It’s Raining) alongside Aaron Neville, Barbara Lynn, The Hawkettes, Eddie Bo and more. I already knew the music of Louis Armstrong (his iconic presence was second only to Elvis in NZ in the ‘70s) and Dr John (Right Place, Wrong Time was a hit on Kiwi radio: something about Mac Rebennac’s gravelly bark grabbed my childhood imagination).
If Satchmo and Mac were established musical icons, and their LPs relatively easy to hunt down, Irma was a more mysterious talent – her albums were near impossible to find in NZ. And her singles were never seen – understandably, as I’ve found no trace of them being released here. Her media profile back then was nonexistent: beyond what I learnt from John Broven’s pioneering book on Louisiana R&B, Walking To New Orleans, Irma rarely attracted coverage in US or UK music publications. To be honest, back then I was unsure if Irma Thomas was still singing – or even still alive.
The LP that introduced me to Irma’s oeuvre. Yes, I still own and listen to it today.
Then Kent Records (a subsidiary of Ace Records) issued Time Is On My Side in 1983. I bought an import copy from Real Groovy Records and devoured its 16 songs. Here was her groundbreaking recording of Time Is On My Side (like almost every other white music fan on earth, I knew the Stones version), and fifteen other fabulous tunes - Ruler Of My Heart, I Done Got Over It, It’s Raining, the self-penned I Wish Someone Would Care, Break-A-Way, Times Have Changed, Some Things You Never Get Used To, Hurt’s All Gone, Take A Look - all drawn from her early-to-mid ‘60s recordings on New Orleans indie label Minit (with Allen Toussaint writing/producing/arranging) and then the larger Los Angeles-based label Imperial Records.
That the album was compiled by Ted Carroll (founder of Ace Records), with sleeve-notes by Clive Richardson (an authority on R&B), meant nothing to me at the time – the only Brits I was then aware of who were authorities on blues/soul were Paul Oliver and Charlie Gillett, due to finding copies of their pioneering books in used bookshops – but, years later, I would get to know both men. Thinking about it, I met Clive when I first interviewed Irma.