Ural Thomas

Ural Thomas (born 21 December 1939) is an American soul music singer. While Thomas has made music for over fifty years, his public performances span two eras: the 1950s through the 1960s, and from 2013 through the present as Ural Thomas and the Pain.

Early life and career Thomas was born in Louisiana, learning to sing in church. The seventh of sixteen children, his family relocated to Portland, Oregon when he was a young child. He attended Jefferson High School.

Thomas became a professional singer in the 1950s as a young man, with over forty performances at the Apollo Theater. He worked with or opened for musicians such as Etta James, Together, Thomas and Magee created Ural Thomas and the Pain, an eight-piece backing band for Thomas's vocals. The band has played in venues as large as the main stage of the Waterfront Blues Festival. Their third album, Dancing Dimensions, was released on Bella Union in June, 2022.