Evelyn Thomas (born Ellen Lucille Thomas in Chicago, Illinois, on 22 August… Read Full Bio ↴Evelyn Thomas (born Ellen Lucille Thomas in Chicago, Illinois, on 22 August 1953; died 21 July 2024) was an American singer remembered for the hi-NRG dance hits "High Energy", "Masquerade", "Standing at the Crossroads", "Reflections", and "Weak Spot".
Discovered by British producer Ian Levine, who was in the US in 1975 scouting for gospel and soul singers he could promote in the UK, the two recorded several tracks which resulted in a contract with 20th Century Records. Thomas scored a chart hit with her first single, reaching the UK Top 30 in 1976 with the single "Weak Spot," co-written by Levine and Paul David Wilson . A follow-up single, "Doomsday", entered the UK charts twice but each time floundered in the lower reaches, and sticky contract issues complicated her newfound success, though Levine and Thomas would continue their association for quite some time. She signed to US label Casablanca Records for her first album release I Wanna Make It On My Own, released 1978. With Casablanca doing little to promote the LP, she switched to AVI Records for the double A-side 12" single "Have a Little Faith in Me" / "No Time to Turn Around" which prompted the label to release it as an LP, backed with Rick Gianatos' extended remixes of her 1976 tracks "My Head's in the Stars" and "Love's Not Just an Illusion". For a follow-up, Evelyn Thomas re-recorded three tracks from an aborted project by Levine's group Moonstone, "Love in the First Degree", "Summer on the Beach" and "Sleaze" (originally entitled "Out of the Ball Game") but with the disco backlash in the US, the tracks were left unreleased.
Although disco music had been declared "dead" in the US in a backlash in 1979, several songs which continued and advanced the exuberant surge of uptempo dance music managed to scale the US pop charts in the intervening years, notably Blondie's "Call Me" in 1980, Laura Branigan's "Gloria" in 1982, and Irene Cara's "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" in 1983. Unwilling to use the term "disco", the phrase "High Energy" had come into usage, probably, begun in England in the early 1980s. By 1984, Ian Levine had re-established himself as a producer and asked Evelyn Thomas to come to London to record a new track "High Energy". Just few weeks after it was released, it zoomed up the charts all over Europe - peaking at No. 1 in Germany and No. 5 in the UK, selling a total of 7,000,000 copies worldwide. In the US it hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, selling 250,000 copies. The song was her only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at #85, although three additional songs hit the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. By 1984, the phrase had become embraced as a term by DJs across Europe and in the States, particularly in gay clubs where DJs who preferred to play records that surpassed a certain BPM (Beats Per Minute) threshold found many mainstream hits lagging in tempo. Evolving around that time to the abbreviated "Hi-Energy," the term soon became further shortened to "Hi-NRG", and was still widely in use more than three decades later to describe a certain genre of uptempo dance music.
The follow-up single "Masquerade" was taken from her third album High Energy, released the same year. While it received heavy rotation in European clubs, it failed to break into the UK Top 40. In the US the song was a top-twenty Dance hit. The following year, "Heartless" became her only single other than "High Energy" to chart outside of the Club/Dance charts in the United States. "Heartless" peaked at #84 on the Black Singles chart (later renamed the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart) in 1985.
Though she would not return to the US pop or R&B charts, US dancefloors continued to move to the fast beat of Evelyn Thomas. With a cover of the Supremes' 1967 hit "Reflections", updated in her Hi-NRG style, Thomas peaked at #18 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1986, the same year in which Kim Wilde had a similarly styled hit with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". A second Thomas release that summer fared even better on those charts, as "How Many Hearts" narrowly missed the top 10. The two songs would later appear on Thomas' fourth album release, Standing at the Crossroads, in 1987. In late 1987, the single "No Win Situation" shot to #1 on the now defunct UK Hi-NRG chart. After the singles "Only Once in a Lifetime" (1988) and "This Is Madness" (1989), both on Levine's Nightmare Records label, Thomas withdrew from the music business.
In spring 1997, Redemption featuring Evelyn Thomas had a minor US club hit with the track "Tell The World".
A new remix of her largest hit was released in 2004 as "High Energy 2004" and became a worldwide gay club hit. The remix was released on Dance Street/ZYX Records out of Germany in early 2005. The remix secured moderate radio and club play Stateside. This song was then ripped off by Daz Sampson in 2005 who tried to get it released in the UK before the Germans could release their remix.
In May 2008, Thomas took part in the major RTL Disco Tour, performing in 15 cities throughout France. While in Europe, Thomas completed several new recordings in different countries with the aim of making a comeback. She has teamed up with Ian Levine for the first time in 20 years, recording the tracks "Pounding the Pavement", "One in a Million" and "I Can't Give You the World". She has recorded four tracks, "Stick to the Plan", "Missing the Target", "Infidelity" and the ballad "Why Must the Sunrise" for a diva album called The Plan for Night Dance Records, produced by Scandinavian songwriter Soren Jensen in collaboration with Clive Scott, formerly of Jigsaw. Thomas has also teamed up with French team Evolusound for a single release, "Prove It", written and produced by Frank Savannah and remixed by Laurent Schark.
In 2009, Thomas released a duet with Carol Jiani, "Are You Man Enough", produced by the Australian team of Peter Wilson and Chris Richards aka T1 Productions.
Also in 2009, Thomas and three others formed an entertainment company called Eljopan Entertainment Incorporated.
Discovered by British producer Ian Levine, who was in the US in 1975 scouting for gospel and soul singers he could promote in the UK, the two recorded several tracks which resulted in a contract with 20th Century Records. Thomas scored a chart hit with her first single, reaching the UK Top 30 in 1976 with the single "Weak Spot," co-written by Levine and Paul David Wilson . A follow-up single, "Doomsday", entered the UK charts twice but each time floundered in the lower reaches, and sticky contract issues complicated her newfound success, though Levine and Thomas would continue their association for quite some time. She signed to US label Casablanca Records for her first album release I Wanna Make It On My Own, released 1978. With Casablanca doing little to promote the LP, she switched to AVI Records for the double A-side 12" single "Have a Little Faith in Me" / "No Time to Turn Around" which prompted the label to release it as an LP, backed with Rick Gianatos' extended remixes of her 1976 tracks "My Head's in the Stars" and "Love's Not Just an Illusion". For a follow-up, Evelyn Thomas re-recorded three tracks from an aborted project by Levine's group Moonstone, "Love in the First Degree", "Summer on the Beach" and "Sleaze" (originally entitled "Out of the Ball Game") but with the disco backlash in the US, the tracks were left unreleased.
Although disco music had been declared "dead" in the US in a backlash in 1979, several songs which continued and advanced the exuberant surge of uptempo dance music managed to scale the US pop charts in the intervening years, notably Blondie's "Call Me" in 1980, Laura Branigan's "Gloria" in 1982, and Irene Cara's "Flashdance (What A Feeling)" in 1983. Unwilling to use the term "disco", the phrase "High Energy" had come into usage, probably, begun in England in the early 1980s. By 1984, Ian Levine had re-established himself as a producer and asked Evelyn Thomas to come to London to record a new track "High Energy". Just few weeks after it was released, it zoomed up the charts all over Europe - peaking at No. 1 in Germany and No. 5 in the UK, selling a total of 7,000,000 copies worldwide. In the US it hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, selling 250,000 copies. The song was her only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at #85, although three additional songs hit the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. By 1984, the phrase had become embraced as a term by DJs across Europe and in the States, particularly in gay clubs where DJs who preferred to play records that surpassed a certain BPM (Beats Per Minute) threshold found many mainstream hits lagging in tempo. Evolving around that time to the abbreviated "Hi-Energy," the term soon became further shortened to "Hi-NRG", and was still widely in use more than three decades later to describe a certain genre of uptempo dance music.
The follow-up single "Masquerade" was taken from her third album High Energy, released the same year. While it received heavy rotation in European clubs, it failed to break into the UK Top 40. In the US the song was a top-twenty Dance hit. The following year, "Heartless" became her only single other than "High Energy" to chart outside of the Club/Dance charts in the United States. "Heartless" peaked at #84 on the Black Singles chart (later renamed the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart) in 1985.
Though she would not return to the US pop or R&B charts, US dancefloors continued to move to the fast beat of Evelyn Thomas. With a cover of the Supremes' 1967 hit "Reflections", updated in her Hi-NRG style, Thomas peaked at #18 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1986, the same year in which Kim Wilde had a similarly styled hit with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On". A second Thomas release that summer fared even better on those charts, as "How Many Hearts" narrowly missed the top 10. The two songs would later appear on Thomas' fourth album release, Standing at the Crossroads, in 1987. In late 1987, the single "No Win Situation" shot to #1 on the now defunct UK Hi-NRG chart. After the singles "Only Once in a Lifetime" (1988) and "This Is Madness" (1989), both on Levine's Nightmare Records label, Thomas withdrew from the music business.
In spring 1997, Redemption featuring Evelyn Thomas had a minor US club hit with the track "Tell The World".
A new remix of her largest hit was released in 2004 as "High Energy 2004" and became a worldwide gay club hit. The remix was released on Dance Street/ZYX Records out of Germany in early 2005. The remix secured moderate radio and club play Stateside. This song was then ripped off by Daz Sampson in 2005 who tried to get it released in the UK before the Germans could release their remix.
In May 2008, Thomas took part in the major RTL Disco Tour, performing in 15 cities throughout France. While in Europe, Thomas completed several new recordings in different countries with the aim of making a comeback. She has teamed up with Ian Levine for the first time in 20 years, recording the tracks "Pounding the Pavement", "One in a Million" and "I Can't Give You the World". She has recorded four tracks, "Stick to the Plan", "Missing the Target", "Infidelity" and the ballad "Why Must the Sunrise" for a diva album called The Plan for Night Dance Records, produced by Scandinavian songwriter Soren Jensen in collaboration with Clive Scott, formerly of Jigsaw. Thomas has also teamed up with French team Evolusound for a single release, "Prove It", written and produced by Frank Savannah and remixed by Laurent Schark.
In 2009, Thomas released a duet with Carol Jiani, "Are You Man Enough", produced by the Australian team of Peter Wilson and Chris Richards aka T1 Productions.
Also in 2009, Thomas and three others formed an entertainment company called Eljopan Entertainment Incorporated.
Have A Little Faith In Me
Evelyn Thomas Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Have A Little Faith In Me' by these artists:
A*Teens [Marie] Lonely days lonely nights Without you by my side …
BellRays (The) I fell upon a dream last night We were together Hey baby,…
Bill Frisell When the road gets dark and you can no longer…
Bill Frisell Kermit Driscoll & Joey Baron When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Bob Malone When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Let…
Chaka Khan When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Charly Luske When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Just…
Denise Jannah When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Hiatt John When the road gets dark And you can no longer…Ilse DeLange When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Just…
Jake Worthington When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Jewel When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Just…
Joe Cocker When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Let…
John Hiatt When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Jubilant Sykes When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Let…
Kenny Rogers When the road gets dark and you can no longer…
Mandy Moore When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Let…
Nick Santino Catching my breath Biting my tongue I've been waiting here a…
Olivia Penalva When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Just…
PATTY LARKIN -- CD ROLLIN' INTO MEMPHIS - THE SONGS OF JOHN HIATT When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Ryan Sheridan When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Just…
Tess Boyer Have A Little Faith In Me -Tess Boyer When the road…
The BellRays I fell upon a dream last night We were together Hey baby,…
Thomas Quasthoff When the road gets dark And you can no longer…
Young Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be lig…
Joe Cocker When the road gets dark And you can no longer see Let…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Evelyn Thomas:
Chalk It UP To Experience It's been a long time since I heard your voice I'm…
Doomsday It's a major catastrophe It's the end of the world for…
Heartless How could you be, so heartless? All of this time I,…
Hi Energy High energy, your love is lifting me, ah Hoh-oh-oh-oh, high …
High Energy High energy, your love is lifting me Oh, high energy Your…
High Energy ((Reload Radio Mix)) High energy, your love is lifting me-ah Hoh-oh-oh-oh, high e…
High Energy ) High energy, your love is lifting me Oh, high energy Your…
High-Energy High energy, your love is lifting me Oh, high energy Your…
How Many Hearts I wanna know Hey Hey How many how many many hearts I wanna …
I Wanna Make It On My Own I've tried so many times to make the decision to…
Masquerade I don't know what I do, babe I don't know what…
Reflections Through the mirror of my mind Time after time I see reflecti…
Running Wild In The Night - To the night And I'm dazzled by all of the…
second best Ooohh Woaahh Boo boo Last night when we turned out the lig…
Shy Guy My baby loves me in so many ways I listen to…
Weak spot When I met you boy I was so together, so cool No…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@rgianatos
I'm back in love with my favorite voice on my favorite track. Happy memories, this one. :-)!!!!
@bobrofmad
such an outstanding performance,so much a true feeling around,BRAVO!!!
@IanLevine
It's also my own favourite song by her, and you are most most most welcome. Did you ever hear Ebony Alleyne's version ???
@IanLevine
It was, thirty years ago.
@IanLevine
I did two separate anthologies of the best of my career. The first is "Reaching For The Very Best". The second is "Running In Another Direction". A third one, "Midnight Ride" is planned. Each one is three discs with 24 songs per disc, and very cheap too. The first two are available from amazon uk.
@IanLevine
@rgianatos - You recorded the vocal to it in Chicago, and I cut the music in London, in 1979.
@IanLevine
Tom Moulton is planning to do a double CD set of Centre City - The Tom Moulton Remixes.
@IanLevine
White girl's voice ?? You better hope you never meet her face to face - she'll punch your lights out for saying that (lol).