Carla Thomas

Carla Thomas is an American soul and R&B singer known as “The Queen of Memphis Soul.” ∙ The daughter of Memphis radio personality and recording artist Rufus Thomas, she started performing at age 10 as a member of the Teen Town Singers. ∙ Thomas made her recording debut in 1960 with “Cause I Love You,” a duet with her father, Rufus. ∙ “Gee Whiz,” her breakthrough hit, reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961 and helped put the fledgling Stax Records on the map. ∙ In 1967, Thomas and Otis Redding recorded the duets record King & Queen, which hit No. 5 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination. ∙ Thomas was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2013. ∙ Her 1966 smash “B-A-B-Y” was featured prominently on the soundtrack of the 2017 film Baby Driver.