Richard “Cookie” Thomas

Dubbed “Cookie” by his mom for reasons that are lost within the sands of your time, Richard Thomas cut his vocal teeth as an adolescent on the road corners of Philadelphia singing doo-wop within the 1960’s. At 14, he got his 1st big gig, starting for B.B. Ruler. During his formative years within the 1970’s, Thomas worked well at clubs, celebrations and other locations with performers whose designs cut over the musical range. There was right forward jazz with Houston Person, doo wop using the Tokens, rock and roll with Small Anthony, hard bop with one-time Betty Carter partner Richard Mixon among others. This led to a broad centered onthe-job musical education. Thomas’ decision to go on a performing career like a balladeer was the consequence of an early work where his worker (“a rich woman”, says Thomas) bombarded him with Sinatra albums to the stage where Thomas “started to just like the stuff”. His clean baritone voice is situated somewhere among the deep richness of the Johnny Hartman and Billy Eckstine as well as the lighter shades of Nat Ruler Cole and Lou Rawls. Just like the traditional balladeer, Thomas delivers every music in an easy manner, each informing a tale. This style is definitely obvious on his recording The Pleasure of His Firm using the Lynn Ariale Trio, released in 1998. With great diction and focus on musical details, Thomas has all of the tools to help to fill the void today pervading the globe of man vocalists.