Carl Thomas (singer)

Carl Thomas
Thomas performs at the Legends of Bad Boy concert in Beverly Hills, California in 2014.
Background information
Birth name	Carlton Neron Thomas
Born	(1971-06-15) June 15, 1971 (age 45)
Origin	Aurora, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	R&B, urban, adult contemporary
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Bad Boy (1999–2005) Bungalo (2006–10) Verve Forecast (2011–present)
Website	carlthomaslive.com

Carlton Neron "Carl" Thomas (born June 15, 1971) is an American Grammy-nominated R&B singer.

Thomas attended East Aurora High School. He sang around Chicago and became a member of The Formula. He branched out, however, and traveled to New York, where he sang at clubs during open-mic nights. One such performance caught the eye of Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed Thomas to Bad Boy Entertainment in 1997. He continues to perform music and is currently on tour with Bad Boy Entertainment.

With the single "I Wish" released in late 1999, topping the R&B charts for six consecutive weeks, creating strong interest. Emotional, his debut album was released on April 18, 2000. On the strength of this single, and the album's other singles, "Summer Rain" at #18, which also appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film version of Shaft, and the title track "Emotional" at #8 on the R&B charts, the album was certified platinum with over 1 million in sales. Later rapper Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" featuring Jay-z interpolated Thomas' "I Wish" on his 2000 album The Dynasty: Roc La Familia.

His second album, Let's Talk About It, was released on March 23, 2004. Although two singles – "She Is" and "Let's Talk About It" – were released, they charted poorly. Lack of promotion caused by the death of Thomas's brother Duranthony Evans, who was killed in a drive-by on Halloween night on Aurora's east side was a contributing factor. This devastated Thomas, causing him to take a sabbatical from his music and the promotion of the album. The album was highly anticipated due to the length of time that had passed since Emotional but was not well received by fans. In 2005, Thomas was featured on R&B singer Amerie's sophomore album Touch, on the ninth track, entitled "Can We Go".