Ural Thomas

Ural Thomas is, and forever will be, Portland’s pillar of soul. He started singing beneath his mothers knee in church at the age of 3. By high school he led the doo-wop group the Mono Rays, breaking hearts and taking names at Jefferson High and Irvington Park along the way. Ural’s voice and songwriting soon gained national attention and he found himself sharing the stage with the likes of James Brown, Otis Redding, Johnny Guitar Watson and “Little” Stevie Wonder. He played the Apollo 44 times. He backed the Northwest’s biggest soul and garage outfits of the 1960s (The Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Cavaliers Unlimited) and he never for a moment stopped teaching, singing and loving soul music. “