Mickey Thomas
Thomas performing in 1977
Background information
Birth name	John Michael Thomas
Born	December 3, 1949 (1949-12-03) (age 60) Cairo, Georgia, U.S.
Genres	Rock, Pop rock
Occupations	Singer, Songwriter
Years active	1970s – present
Associated acts	Elvin Bishop Jefferson Starship Starship
Website	mickeythomas.com

John Michael Thomas, better known as Mickey Thomas, (born December 3, 1949 in Cairo, Georgia) is an American singer.

He was inspired to take part in music after seeing a Beatles performance in 1965. He travelled to Atlanta with long time childhood friends Charles Connell, Lewis Oliver, Tommy Verran and Walter Wight. Thomas, Connell and Verran wound up in their first rock and roll band together. Verran was the lead singer at the time. They split up to go to different colleges, but later reformed in the early 1970s along with friend Bud Thomas as "The Jets". While singing lead for The Jets in 1974, Thomas joined the Elvin Bishop Group as a harmony singer, and eventually made it to lead vocals. His best-known achievement was singing on Elvin Bishop's chart hit "Fooled Around And Fell In Love", a #3 single in 1976.

Mickey Thomas recorded a solo album, As Long as You Love Me, in 1976.

In early 1979 Mickey Thomas was asked to join Jefferson Starship after the departure of Marty Balin and Grace Slick. In 1981, Mickey Thomas recorded a second solo album, Alive Alone. Two years later, one of Thomas's former bandmates in the Elvin Bishop Group, drummer Donny Baldwin, became Starship's new drummer when Aynsley Dunbar left.

He spent most of the early eighties as the main vocalist of Jefferson Starship, performing several duets with Slick (who rejoined in 1981) and gaining greater influence in the band. After Paul Kantner left in 1984, Thomas was sole leader of the band. From 1985–1989 the newly dubbed "Starship" scored some of its biggest hits. When Grace Slick left again in 1988, Thomas sang all lead vocals - in a band that was formed when he was just 15 years old. But, their fortunes as pop music artists soon ran out. A tour was cancelled after Thomas was attacked in a bar and required facial reconstruction surgery. (His assailant was Donny Baldwin, who was forced to resign after the incident.)

He has also appeared in the 1989 film Dream a Little Dream as well as having recorded the film's titled theme song and its duet version with Mel Tormé for the soundtrack. The duet version was also played during the end of the film.

The original incarnation of Starship disbanded in 1991. In 1992 Paul Kantner reformed Jefferson Starship without Thomas and Thomas formed a new touring band called "Starship featuring Mickey Thomas"; touring has continued with this title. In 1998 he guested on Sammy Hagar's album, Marching To Mars.

In 2002, Thomas and his touring band re-recorded all of the Jefferson Starship hits on which he had appeared. The resulting album was released in 2003, without any band credits being provided, as Forever Gold, part of a series of releases by St. Clair Entertainment.

In 2004, he released an album project, under the title of Over the Edge, produced by Fabrizio Grossi.

In 2008, Thomas recorded a new album with Aynsley Dunbar for Direct Music featuring artists such as Jake E. Lee, former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Thomas will reunite with Elvin Bishop as Starship will close for them in late 2008. A new Mickey Thomas Starship album is due out spring 2009.

[edit] Discography

• As Long as You Love Me (1976)
• Alive Alone (1981)
• Forever Gold (2003), St. Clair Entertainment^[1]
• Over the Edge (2004)

[edit] References

1. ^ 2002 re-recordings of Jefferson Starship or Starship songs on which Mickey Thomas originally appeared. These recordings have been licensed to several labels, resulting in the release of Starship - Greatest Hits (Delta Records) and Starship - Greatest Hits (Brilliant Records). The original release of these recordings was as Starship - Greatest and Latest, available outside the U.S. only, and including both a CD and DVD.

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Unofficial Starship Home Page
• Audio Interview with Mickey Thomas, 2008/10/07