21/07/2024
It is incredibly sad for me to hear that Evelyn Thomas has passed away today. I first picked up a copy of Evelyn's 1984 hit High Energy in the early 90s, never imagining at the time that I'd eventually meet her and get to work with her. Ian Levine had first discovered her back in Chicago back in 1975. She enjoyed her first UK-hit with the song Weak Spot which also earned her a Top Of The Pops performance, and she had two wonderful disco albums on Donna Summer's record label, Casablanca Records, and AVI Records in the late 1970s. It was, however, hers and Ian's 1984 million-selling single High Energy that became her claim to fame. 24 years later, Evelyn had been doing a huge tour in France with other disco acts, and Ian wanted to record her again, and knowing that I was recording my first album, he introduced me to her. I had to rearrange her schedule to get her to London in June 2008, and after numerous phone calls we met at Ian's house that month. Evelyn recorded three songs with Ian, and three songs with me, one of them was my first single, Stick To The Plan (which I had wanted to be called Stick To Your Guns, a title which Evelyn didn't like). It was a week that I will always treasure and remember. We had so much fun together. One of the last evenings I played Evelyn a track that I had been pitching to another singer, a track called Why Must The Sunrise, and she said: "Why didn't you ask me to sing it?" Since the other singer (Liz Mitchell of Boney M.) never accepted it, Evelyn ended up recording her vocals in Florida and sending them over to London for us to mix them later. The guy who wrote the lyrics for that track, Philip Carter, passed away in 2017. I attended his funeral and it was very moving that he had chosen that song to be played at such a sad event. He was tremendously proud to have written lyrics for Evelyn as he had been a fan of her since the 80s. I met up with Evelyn in her home in Florida in 2010 where we recorded two more tracks although for various reasons, neither of them was released. We spoke earlier this year where I suggested we brush them off and got them released. She never mentioned to me she'd been diagnosed with colon cancer, and it was heartbreaking to hear from her daughter that she'd been admitted to hospice a few weeks ago and that there was nothing more that the doctors could do. I am so grateful to have met her and had the opportunity to work with her. Rest in heavenly peace, Evelyn.
