Song:Yo' Little Brother
Album:Yo' Little Brother
Yo' Little Brother was a dance hit that crossed over to pop in 1984. It was the only big hit for Nolan Thomas. When you see him on the album cover and the video, he looks like a teen. He was born Marko Kalfa Aug. 24, 1966 in Jersey City, NJ. I assume he hung around dance clubs while he was in high school. He was discovered by producers Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa. They produced the 1983 monster hit Let The Music Play by Shannon. Obviously they are looking for lightning to strike twice. Yo' Little Brother was released as a single on Emergency Records. It did well enough in clubs that Atco's Mirage label picked it up for national distribution just like Let The Music Play. Yo' Little Brother did OK but not that well. It reached #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #26 on the R&B Singles chart. The album was released in 1985. It's available on CD from the Montreal based disco nostalgia label UniDisc. Supposedly Thomas sang on the rest of the album but he didn't sing lead on Yo' Little Brother. Liggett and Barbosa recorded it with Elan Lanier. But they didn't think he was marketable. That's when they discovered Thomas. It's Lanier's only credit so I don't know if this is true or if Elan Lanier is his real name. Then there's the cheesy music video with kids imitating Billy Idol, Prince, Ric Ocasek, Bruce Springsteen and Cyndi Lauper. This nonsense was hatched by Stu Sleppin and Bob Teeman who turned it into Vid Kids. Thomas toured with Vid Kids in the late 80s. After a couple of other singles charted, that was it for Nolan Thomas. Kalfa released a single under his real name in 1989. Then he got into fashion photography and he still does that. But for a brief time he was teen pop star Nolan Thomas. Here's the video for Yo' Little Brother by Nolan Thomas.
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