Nicky Thomas (singer)

Cecil Thomas was born and raised in Portland Parish, Jamaica. He began work as a labourer in Kingston where he worked alongside future members of The Gladiators. His opportunity to cut some records came when the former Jiving Junior and producer, Derrick Harriott wrote and produced "Run Mr Nigel Run" for Thomas. A huge Jamaican hit, the song led to him being known as Mr Nigel for a time. Thomas' collaboration with Gibbs resulted in a number of hits including "Don't Touch Me", "Mama's Song" and "God Bless The Children". Thomas and Gibbs also covered a number of well regarded R&B hits that included Tyrone Davis' "Turn Back the Hands of Time" and "(Baby) Can I Change Your Mind" and Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night in Georgia". He topped the Jamaican charts in 1970 with "Have a Little Faith", a record that reputedly sold 50,000 copies on its release in the UK. It failed to chart in the UK because the sales were largely through specialist music shops and not statistically counted by the official chart compilers. ==Career==

In mid-1970, Nicky Thomas' interpretation of the Winstons' version of "Love of the Common People" resulted in a UK hit. The record reached number nine in the UK Singles Chart, that included a version of his former Jamaican hit "Have a Little Faith" and a cover of Joe Simon's "Doing The Moonwalk". In 1973 he supported Desmond Dekker on a short London tour and, in 1974, backed by Misty in Roots he successfully toured the UK. In 1976 he released the poignant "London", a song about the desperation of an immigrant's life in London and featured in an ITV television documentary recording What Love Is at studios in north London. By the early 1980s, he was recording in a roots reggae style. In 1980 he recorded "Trow Mi Corn-No Portion of Gal" for Joe Gibbs' US distributed JGM Records. In 1983, the singer Paul Young took "Love of the Common People" back into the UK chart reviving interest in Thomas's version of the song that in turn resulted in Trojan reissuing it as a 12-inch single that included an extended remix version. ==Death==

He died in about 1990. According to his record company, "the precise circumstances surrounding his death seem confused to this day – the most common account tells of the singer suffering a broken heart and subsequently taking his own life." ==Discography==

Albums • Love of the Common People (1970) Trojan • Tell It Like It Is (1972) Trojan • Images of You (1973) Horse • Doing the Moon Walk (1997) Trojan (compilation) • Love of the Common People (2003) Trojan (compilation) ==References==