Ray Thomas
Vocals, Flute, Harmonica
...
    Ray Thomas was born on the 29th of December, 1941, in Stourport-on-Severn, England. His deep, distinctive voice and wonderful flute playing has made such songs as "Legend of a Mind", "And the Tide Rushes  In", and "For My Lady" the classics that they are.

   Ray began his adult life as an engineer, working in several factories in the Stourport-on-Severn area. He joined the band "El Riot and the Rebels" in 1963 with future Moodies bandmates Mike Pinder and John Lodge.

    El Riot recorded several moderately successful singles, but they eventually  broke up after a year or so. In 1964, the guys were ready to try again, and formed "The M & B 5". They came out with several successful singles, the greatest of which being "Go Now", an old Bessie Banks tune. Before long though, the Moodies popularity was sliding down fast, and they found themselves back in the night clubs, playing for meager pay.

    Eventually, Denny Laine and Clint Warwick couldn't take things the way they'd been going, and left the group. Luckily for the Moodies, Justin Hayward and John Lodge ended up joining, and these two members gave the group the newfound drive they needed to get back into the music scene. They received a record contract from Decca records, and recorded their most famous album, Days of Future Passed.

    Ray contributed two songs to this masterpiece, "Another Morning" (originally titled "In a Child's World"), and "Twilight Time". The album eventually became a best-seller, and the group recorded six more albums before breaking up in 1974. Ray's contributions included "Dr. Livingstone, I Presume", "Legend of a Mind", "Dear Diary", "Eternity Road", "And the Tide Rushes In", "Our Guessing Game", and "For My Lady".

    Two years after the Moodies breakup, in 1974, Ray recorded his first solo album, From Mighty Oaks. This album did moderately well on the charts, and contained some wonderful songs, including "Adam and I", "Hey Mama Life", and "Love Is the Key". His next solo effort, Hopes, Wishes, Dreams, did not do as well, but also contained some great musical pieces.

    The Moodies finally reunited in 1978, recording Octave. This album was not a big seller, but Ray contributed a couple of good songs to it, "Under Moonshine", and "I'm Your Man". The Moodies' next release, though, Long Distance Voyager, did much better, hitting the #1 spot on the charts. It contained a great grand finale from Ray, "Painted Smile", the poem, "Reflective Smile", and the somewhat autobiographical "Veteran Cosmic Rocker". This album is often referred to as the Moodies' "comeback" album.

    The next album, The Present, also contained a great finale from Ray: "I Am" and "Sorry". Ray did not make any further song contributions to Moodies' albums, though, until Keys of the Kingdom in 1991. His only contribution to this album, "Celtic Sonant", is a great piece that Moodies fans had been long awaiting.
    Hopefully, Ray will take a more active role on the next album, to be released August 1999.

Biography written by Michael Holl 

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