High Energy singer Evelyn Thomas dies, aged 70

 

"I want to thank everyone for their prayers and kind words. Now it’s time to heal and to plan.

"RIP mommy."

Disco singer Evelyn Thomas, whose powerful voice helped define the Hi-NRG scene of the 1980s, has died at the age of 70.

The Chicago-born star scored an international hit with the 1984 single High Energy, which made the top five in the UK and topped the US club charts.

Her death was announced by her producer Ian Levine on social media.

“It is hard for me to accept that my lifelong protege really has left us,” he wrote. “Her music will outlive us all.”

Thomas's daughter, Kimberly, also posted a tribute, alongside a series of personal photos.

"The legacy that my mother left me is beyond words and the memories are undeniably beyond any monetary value," she wrote. 

 

Born in 1953, Thomas was raised around music. Her mother was a church organist and her grandmother sang in the choir.

"My mother would have the piano and the organ rocking every day. That's just the way it was in our house," she told Soul Music's Justin Krantor in 2009.

After school, she moved to New York to study acting, and sang in early versions of musicals like The Wiz and Les Miserables.

It was on a trip back to Chicago, to sing with her band The Move Mixers, that she was discovered by Levine.

The Mancunian producer had come to the US to discover talent for his newly formed Voltafine Production Company.

After falling in love with Thomas's voice, he cut some tracks with her and secured a recording contract with 20th Century Records.

Her debut single, Weak Spot, became her first chart success, peaking at number 26 in the UK, and securing an appearance on Top Of The Pops.