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All Music Guide:
Ray Thomas is, along with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, Men at Work's Greg Ham, and Mel Collins and Ian McDonald of King Crimson, one of a handful of well-known flute players in rock music -- the main difference is that he was there first, as a founding member of the Moody Blues in the early '60s, and as a singer and songwriter within the band. Born in Stourport on Severn, he attended the Paget Road Secondary Modern School and seemed destined for a life as an engineer and industrial toolmaker. Music always figured in his life, however, starting before his teens when he joined the Birmingham Youth Choir. He aspired to play the flute in part from the influence of one of his grandfathers, who was a virtuoso player on the instrument. He continued singing and later, in tandem with the growing influence of American music in England, took up the harmonica.
Thomas passed through several local groups in his youth, including the Saints & Sinners and the Ramblers, and also for a time played and sang lead in El Riot & the Rebels, a band whose members included bassist John Lodge and organist Mike Pinder. In 1962, Thomas and Pinder formed the Krew Cats, who made the by-then-standard pilgrimage to Hamburg, Germany, for work. They split up in 1963 after returning to Birmingham, but the two decided to form a new group on the bustling band scene in the city, and the result was the Moody Blues, originally an R&B-based quintet, somewhat close in spirit to the early Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Pretty Things. The band enjoyed a monster hit with "Go Now" in 1964, but was unable to follow it up, despite some occasionally brilliant efforts (including "From the Bottom of My Heart"). When the group's bassist, Clint Warwick, and guitarist/singer, Denny Laine, departed, it was Thomas' old El Riot bandmate, John Lodge, who came in as the group's new bassist/singer, followed by guitarist/singer Justin Hayward, and a new phase in their history began. As this new edition of the group moved away from R&B-based songs and into more experimental pop sounds, Thomas returned to the flute as his primary instrument, and his voice also soon began getting featured more prominently in their new music. Thomas wasn't as natural a songwriter as Pinder, Lodge, or Hayward, but with Pinder and Hayward's assistance he emerged as an important composer for the group, providing "Another Morning" and the hauntingly beautiful "Twilight Time" to their growing repertoire of new, more adventurous songs, which were captured on the breakthrough album Days of Future Passed (1967). On their next album, In Search of the Lost Chord (1968), Thomas delivered the group's defining psychedelic-era anthem, "Legend of a Mind." With the central phrase "Timothy Leary's dead/Oh no, he's outside, looking in" and its elaborate instrumentation (swooping cellos and droning Mellotron sharing the spotlight with Thomas' flute), the song became a central part of the psychedelic era's ambience, and part of the pop culture "soundtrack" almost as much as the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" or "Penny Lane"; the fact that it utilized the name of Dr. Timothy Leary, a widely known, once respected academic turned LSD guru, only boosted the group's credibility as a serious psychedelic act within the counterculture of the period.
Thomas' flute was also very prominent in the group's two early psychedelic era hits, "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon," and his harmony singing could be heard everywhere on their records. Additionally, he and Hayward occasionally generated a memorably beautiful collaborative effort, such as the sublimely gorgeous "Visions of Paradise" from In Search of the Lost Chord. As each member took on a distinct personality in his writing -- Pinder the serious mystic, Hayward the romantic, Lodge the rocker, and drummer Graeme Edge the poet -- Thomas became the band's resident playful mystic, his work characterized by lighthearted songs such as "Dr. Livingston, I Presume," "Dear Diary," and "Nice to Be Here," the latter, a kind of trippy pastoral idyll mixing music and nature images. He also occasionally delivered a serious piece like "Eternity Road" or gentle romantic ballads such as "Our Guessing Game," "And the Tide Rushes In," and "For My Lady." Despite his late start as a composer, Thomas was one of the prominent songwriting voices within the band, and authored more than his share of popular songs in their repertoire.
During the group's hiatus, which lasted from 1974 until 1978, Thomas released a pair of solo albums, From Mighty Oaks and Hopes, Wishes, Dreams. These albums, produced on a sometimes grand scale, presented Thomas' singing but didn't feature his playing, in anticipation of the chance to perform this material in concert. From Mighty Oaks made the top 100 and featured several songs that might have gone well on a Moody Blues album of the period, including the rocking "High Above My Head" and the whimsical, lyrical "I Wish We Could Fly." But none of the members was able to sustain career momentum separate from the context of the group, and by late 1978 they were back together. Thomas' songwriting moved closer to center stage within the group during this period as Mike Pinder chose to leave the band, rather than tour behind the new album, Octave. Thomas was left as the group's resident mystic and cosmic rocker -- nowhere was he more prominent as a songwriter than on Long Distance Voyager (1981) (regarded by many latter-day fans as the band's best post-reunion album), on which a trilogy of his songs, "Painted Smile," "Reflective Smile," and "Veteran Cosmic Rocker," comprised the finale, on record and on-stage for the accompanying tour.
His role in the group receded significantly in the decade after, however, as his songwriting ebbed and his flute was less in evidence in their music. In interviews during this period, Justin Hayward, in particular, went out of his way to praise Thomas' singing and emphasize the importance of his songwriting, Thomas' voice did remain a constant with the group on-stage, and he achieved much greater prominence for a time at the band's orchestra-accompanied concerts -- with a flutist from the orchestra available to play the instrument, he was at last able to sing such numbers as "For My Lady," which he'd never been able to perform live before. Thomas' health declined as the new century began, however; he was unable to join the band on their winter 2003 tour, and was replaced by flutist Norda Mullen. Later that year, after some 40 years' association with the band, Thomas retired from the Moody Blues -- with his departure from the lineup, the group's concert set also lost "Legend of a Mind," which had proved to be one of their most popular live numbers across 35 years. It was also ironic that, because their older songs have tended to dominate the group's popularity even in the 21st century, Thomas and his songs, especially those from the '60s, are still well-represented on any of the various hits and best-of compilations that have appeared in the years since his retirement.
Wikipedia:
Ray Thomas (born 29 December 1941, Stourport-on-Severn, England) is an English musician, best known as the flautist and as a singer and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.
Career
In the 1960s, Thomas joined the Birmingham Youth Choir. He began singing with various Birmingham blues and soul groups, including the Saints and Sinners as well as the Ramblers. Taking up the harmonica, he then started a band with bass guitarist and future Moody Blues bandmate John Lodge. The two performed together in El Riot and the Rebels. After a couple of years, keyboardist and friend Mike Pinder, another future Moody, joined as well. Thomas and Pinder (sans Lodge) were later in a band called Krew Cats. El Riot and the Rebels had once opened for The Beatles in Tenbury Wells; the Krew Cats formed in 1963 and played in Hamburg and other places in Northern Germany, possibly at some of the same venues which the Beatles had played although this is unconfirmed.
Thomas and Pinder then recruited guitarist Denny Laine along with drummer Graeme Edge and bassist Clint Warwick to form a new, blues-based band. The name of the band, chosen by Pinder, was "The Moody Blues", chosen from initials which were part of a hoped-for sponsorship from the M&B Brewery (which failed to materialise) and also as a subtle reference to Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo."
Their first album, The Magnificent Moodies, yielded a #1 UK hit (#10 in the US) with "Go Now." The album also featured Thomas singing lead vocals on a cover of George and Ira Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So", which was originally from the musical Porgy and Bess.
Following this album, Warwick left the band, followed by Laine a few months later. Thomas suggested an old bandmate, bassist John Lodge, as a replacement for Warwick (in between there had been another bass guitarist, Rodney Clark) and also recruited Justin Hayward to replace Denny Laine. With its new lineup, the band released 7 successful albums between 1967 and 1972, and became known for a pioneering orchestral sound. Some of Thomas' compositions on these albums are "Another Morning" and "Twilight Time" (from Days of Future Passed), "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume" and "Legend of a Mind" (from In Search of the Lost Chord), "Dear Diary" and "Lazy Day" (from On the Threshold of a Dream), "Eternity Road",and "Floating" (from To Our Children's Children's Children), "And the Tide Rushes In" (from A Question of Balance), "Our Guessing Game" and "Nice to Be Here" (from Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) and "For My Lady" (from Seventh Sojourn).
Thomas also co-wrote "Watching and Waiting" with Justin Hayward for 'To Our Children's Children's Children' in 1969. In addition Thomas also co-wrote with Hayward and sang "The Dreamer" c. 1971 which has been now added to the latest remastered CD version of Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.
In 1974, the band took a hiatus (reported at the time as a break-up), during which the members all did solo projects. Thomas released the albums, From Mighty Oaks (1975) and Hopes Wishes and Dreams (1976). It was during this period that he earned his nickname, 'The Flute'. Within the band he was also known as 'Tomo' (pronounced tOm-O).
The band then reformed in 1978 for 'Octave' (largely minus Mike Pinder who was only with them for this first album after the reformation), Thomas providing 'Under Moonshine' and 'I'm Your Man' and the group continued to release albums throughout the 1980s, with Thomas' "Veteran Cosmic Rocker" plus 'Painted Smile' being prominently featured on the album Long Distance Voyager. The former song has often been regarded as a theme song for the band itself as a whole and for Thomas in particular, and it again features his use of the harmonica. After contributing 'Sorry' and 'I Am' (both on 'The Present' album of 1983) during the mid 1980s, Thomas temporarily stopped writing new songs for the band. His last three songwriting contributions for the Moodies include "Celtic Sonant" and "Never Blame the Rainbows for the Rain" (co-written with Justin Hayward) on the album Keys of the Kingdom, and the brief "My Little Lovely" on Strange Times Thomas also provided a rare co-lead vocal with Hayward & Lodge on their song 'Sooner or Later (Walking On Air)' on 'Strange Times'.
Thomas took featured lead vocal on Graeme Edge's songs '22,000 Days' (on 'Long Distance Voyager') and 'Going Nowhere' (on 'The Present' 1983), however while he contributed backing vocals to 'The Other Side of Life' album in 1986, he took no lead vocal role, and appears to be totally absent from the 1988 album 'Sur La Mer' although he is included in the childhood photos depicted on the album's innersleeve and is given an overall 'group credit' although significantly is then not given an actual performing band credit at all unlike the others.
Although he most commonly plays tambourine and flute, Thomas is actually a multi-instrumentalist, playing various other woodwind instruments, such as Harmonica and the oboe on the album, In Search of the Lost Chord,. The 1972 video for "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" features Thomas playing the baritone saxophone, although Pinder has stated on his website that this was just for effect in the video, and that Thomas was not the sax player on the actual recording. Although typically comfortable singing in the lower tenor register, Thomas was also responsible for the distinctive falsetto voice on many of the group's earlier recordings, before the arrival of Hayward and Lodge.
Thomas retired at the end of 2002. The Moody Blues - now consisting only of Hayward, Lodge and Edge plus four long-serving touring band members, including Norda Mullen who has taken over Thomas' flute parts - have released one studio album, December, since his departure from the band.
In July 2009 it became known that Thomas had written at least two of his songs - "Adam and I" and "My Little Lovely" - for his son and grandson Robert, respectively. Also that he had married again, to his longtime girlfriend Lee, at a ceremony in Wales on 9 July 2009. Ray has released his two solo albums, remastered, in a boxset on 24 September 2010. The set includes, with the two albums, a remastered quad version of "From Mighty Oaks", a new song "The Trouble With Memories", a previously unseen promo video of "High Above My Head" and an interview conducted by fellow Moody Blues founder, Mike Pinder. The boxset was released through Esoteric Recordings/Cherry Red Records.
