BOBBIE THOMAS

Bobbie Thomas was born Robert Edward Thomas in Sydney on 27th March 1945. In 1961 Bobbie Thomas joined the Sydney band The Impacts as a vocalist, whose members were John Leslie and Bob Pierse on guitars, John Manners on bass and Alan Roberts on drums. During 1962 the band changed their name to The Nocturnes and were mainly seen as an instrumental group playing at surf music scene venues around the southern seaside suburbs of Sydney. They financed their first record at a cost of £100 at Harmony House at Circular Quay. The songs were a vocal called "Catch Me" and an instrumental called "September In The Rain" and they sold 500 copies. They auditioned for Festival Records with a vocal track with Bobbie Thomas and an instrumental. This first audition led to nothing and a second audition with Festival Records was arranged in 1963 and led to a contract for The Nocturnes as an instrumental group - Bobbie Thomas was not included at the time. 

They recorded two instrumental records for the Leedon label at Festival's Harris St studio in Sydney, ''Riptide / Prairie'' (Leedon LK 482) in 1963 and ''Sitting Pretty / Storm Warning'' (Leedon LK 580) in 1964. Their line-up continued to evolve during the next two years with guitarists Lawrie Barclay, Terry Vincenzini and Bobby Richardson joining along with Pat Jeffrey on drums. The group appeared on The Johnny O'Keefe Show and with Bobbie Thomas back on vocals organised their own dances at venues in the Kogarah-Ramsgate area. However, Bobbie wanted a change and left The Nocturnes. With the Beatles and British Invasion era in full swing and surfing music dying, The Nocturnes changed their direction and style, and acquired a full-time vocalist, with Ray Brown replacing Bobbie Thomas and they changed their name to Ray Brown and The Whispers.

In the meantime, Bobbie relocated to the Central Coast area of NSW and formed a new band, Bobbie Thomas and The Beaumen in 1965. During 1965 and 1966 they performed on the Central Coast and in Newcastle and recorded two singles on the Bluebird label, ''Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)'' and ''That Lucky Old Sun''. Towards the end of 1966 saw Ray Brown departing company with The Whispers and Bobbie re-teamed with his old mates from The Nocturnes days. They released two singles as Bobbie Thomas and The Whispers on the HMV label. He left The Whispers and continued to release singles through EMI. In 1974 he made a record with ex-Whispers guitarist Lawrie Barclay, billed as The Thomas Brothers releasing ''Ain't No Woman / Hold Me Tight'' on the Reprise label.

During the mid 70's he got involved in acting and started working professionally in the business. In 1981, and using the name Rob Thomas, he successfully auditioned for entry into the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). He graduated from NIDA in 1984. Along with the name change to Rob Thomas came a change in career direction, which would include acting parts both in movies and on television, appearances in musicals and developing a cabaret act.  He spent four years in over 1000 performances of Les Miserables as part of the original Australian production, touring Australia and New Zealand. During 1992-3 he also performed in the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical Aspects of Love. Other credits include The Club for the New England Theatre Company, Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare in the Park and Hamlet, one of Q Theatre’s many productions at Penrith, NSW and more recently in September 2008, Rob appeared in Karaoke The Musical at The Factory Theatre in Enmore. Bobbie Thomas died in 2020.

SINGLES

''Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) (#30) / Blue Feeling'' [with The Beauman] 1965 Bluebird
''That Lucky Old Sun / Hey, Little Girl'' [with The Beauman] 1966 Bluebird
''You've Gotta Stay By Me / Postman'' 1967 HMV
''Heat Wave / Let Me Dream'' [with The Whispers] 1967 HMV
''Walk On / Everybody'' [with The Whispers] 1967 HMV
''If You Wanna Be Happy / Hey, Girl'' 1967 HMV
''Don't Forget About Me / Headline News'' 1968 Columbia

''Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got) / Hold Me Tight'' [as The Thomas Brothers] 1974 Reprise
''Take Me Higher / Can't Make It Without You'' 1976 Living Sound

References

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/