Song:Gee Whiz! (Look At His Eyes)
Album:Gee Whiz! The Best Of Carla Thomas
Just so you don't get confused, Irma Thomas is the Soul Queen of New Orleans and Carla Thomas is the Queen Of Memphis Soul. They're both great of course and Gee Whiz was Carla's only top ten pop hit and the song that launched The Stax Sound. She was born Dec. 21, 1942 in Memphis and is the daughter of the legendary Rufus Thomas. In 1960, they recorded the duet Cause I Love You for Satellite Records and it was a regional hit. Satellite signed a distribution deal with Atlantic and became Stax. Rufus tried to shop Gee Whiz to Vee-Jay. But when they turned it down, Atlantic released it and it reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Carla would continue to record through the 60s with a lot of success on the R & B charts especially her Duet with Otis Redding called Tramp. This Rhino comp has all her hits. She hasn't recorded much since 1971 though she did release Live In Memphis in 2002. She continues to perform today. Here's Carla Thomas performing Gee Whiz at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary 1988.
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