Page 11 - BiTS_06_JUNE_2022_Neat

The BiTS Interview: Vaneese Thomas

Vaneese Thomas is blues, soul and gospel royalty. She is the youngest daughter of Mr
Rufus Thomas, rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ

and comic entertainer (’Walkin’ The Dog’) from Memphis, Tennessee. Her sister is Carla
Thomas, often called the Queen of Memphis soul and her brother, Marvell was house

keyboardist with Stax Records and a record producer and arranger known for his work
in Memphis Soul.

Vaneese lives with her musician and producer husband, Wayne Warnecke in
Westchester, New York State. Ian McKenzie spoke to her on the telephone at her home.

BiTS: Vaneese. Thank you very much indeed for speaking to me. Let’s make a start then, shall we, on this
interview?

VT: Okay.

BiTS: When I speak to ladies like yourself, very often they
tell me they got into their music through the church, but
I think yours might have been more direct as a
consequence of the contact your father had with the
music business and him working as an MC in Memphis.
You must have got into the music almost straight away.

VT: Actually, I didn’t. I had seen and had been involved,
not directly, but seen a lot through daddy and Carla
about the music industry and I’d really wanted no part
of it [laughing].

BiTS: Oh really?

VT: Yes. We all sang around the house, and we all
played piano and wrote songs, so we had a
great time growing up that way but quite
frankly, the music business in terms of
promoters and record companies and clubs,
that didn’t appeal to me at all.
BiTS: Well I never did. That’s a surprise to
me.

VT: Yes, but what I discovered as I got older
was that the music was the most important
part of it. It wasn’t the business part. I had
to deal with that, of course, but if I wanted
to do what I was passionate about and I
believe God-given talent, then I had to well,
put up with that part of it.
BiTS: When did you actually change your mind
and start really working as a musician?

VT: I started changing my mind in college because I began performing there with my friend and co-writer
Carolyn Mitchell, who you probably know when we had our first record deal together as Vaneese and Carolyn.
I began changing my mind then and then after we got out of college, we began singing at Alpha and Sigma
studios in Philadelphia. We were gabbling into the music business then.

BiTS: Was that college you’re talking about the Swarthmore college? Is that where you were?