carl thomas made his mark in the r b world by pouring his heart and soul out in
all the passionate and emotional music he created
he enjoyed great success for several years until a shocking family tragedy put a stop to it all
let's find out whatever happened to carl thomas born carlton neuron thomas on june 15
1972 in aurora illinois carl began singing at a very early age since he lived just one
hour outside of chicago he would go there to perform as a member of the group the formula
eventually as many aspiring singers do he left home for the bright lights and big opportunities
that new york city had to offer honing his skills performing during open mic nights at various clubs
as the saying goes you never know who's watching and one night at a cabaret in manhattan someone
very significant and influential in the music industry was watching and listening
it was shawn puff daddy puffy p diddy papa diddy pop diddy brother love combs
he liked what he heard and signed carl to bad boy records in 1997. diddy as the focus businessman
that he was wasted no time getting carl into the fold as soon as he joined the bad boy family
long before carl's own music hit the streets he appeared as a feature guest on notable songs
including the official remix to the diddy notorious b.i.g and mace hit been around the world
before long it was carl's time to fly solo the track i wish off carl's debut album emotional
released a couple of years later topped the r b charts for six consecutive weeks this was quite
the feat since at the time the music world was being heavily dominated by rap and hip-hop tunes
it became so popular that rapper jay-z couldn't resist referencing it in his hit i just want to
love you give it to me carl experienced the type of success with his first song that most
artists never touched during their entire careers the album also produced two other
singles summer rain and the title track emotional that helped push the album to platinum status
in an interview with sways universe carl explained his feelings at the time of recording the album
saying you know what was funny about that album was if you really listened to it i was
really an angry young dude at the time i found a pretty way you know what i mean or beautiful way
to complain a debut album reaching platinum status would be a dream come true for any musical artist
and one would no doubt be on cloud9 going into the studio
to record their follow-up album however this time around things would take a devastating turn
carl's highly anticipated second album let's talk about it was slated to be released late
2003 but behind the scenes business dealings pushed it back to early 2004
then carl's world was turned upside down when his brother dr anthony evans was killed in
a drive-by shooting on halloween night in their hometown of aurora dur anthony
was a corrections officer and a church pastor reports said it was a case of mistaken identity
carl was understandably devastated and of course made a wise decision to take a step back from
music in an interview with quad city times he said my existence and my life and my definition as an
artist and as a person and as a human being has been completely altered whatever i go to
do with my hands and my voice and everything will be rededicated to the works of his life
unfortunately this move also caused his album to not do well initially
since there wasn't much promotion being done
the following year carl would leave bad boy records
over the years some artists have been vocal about not reaping the financial rewards they felt they
should have while working with diddy at the label carl however isn't one of those people he told
sway in 2020 puff is a type of person that you know he's different to everybody he's a different
puff to every artist i've never got a problem with getting paid on time my problems were more
creative i didn't really have business problems i actually got a really good deal from bad boy
carl looks back on those years as the greatest single learning experience he's had in the music
industry and credits much of that to diddy's vision professionalism and attention to detail
he was also probably in a much more knowledgeable position
than the average artist when hooking up with bad boys since he had already had a couple
of other deals that didn't go well at all so he knew what he should and should not accept
after taking some time to mourn the loss of his brother and reorganize his life 2006 brought
some happy news carl along with chaka khan yolanda adams and gerald levert received his first grammy
nomination for everyday family reunion a song from the soundtrack of tyler perry's medea's
family reunion many years would pass before the world would hear from carl thomas again in 2019 he
debuted the single one with heaven a collaboration with an israeli poet named gila uriel
she was interested in working with some american artists and carl was on her list
at the time he was also working on a new album just launched a multimedia company and was helping
his son david who by the way is his spitting image get his music career off the ground
those are all amazing accomplishments considering carl also had a medical emergency to deal with as
well in the summer of 2019 he underwent surgery to remove a non-cancerous tumor located in one of
his salivary glands the surgery was successful and after a couple of weeks of recuperation
he was able to get back to work the year 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the emotional album
to celebrate on the exact date of its debut april 18th carl took to instagram to do a live
show for his fans and to thank them for all their love and support throughout his career
thanks for watching please like and share the video and subscribe for more amazing content
see you next time