Colours Make Me Think of You

Radha Thomas

Radha Thomas was born in Tamil Nadu, grew up in Mumbai and Delhi and left for the USA barely out of her teens, where she spent 20 years pursuing her dream of becoming a wealthy jazz singer.

Sadly, it never happened.

Instead, she held a variety of day-jobs, singing in jazz clubs at night.

They include writing travel brochures; being a tour guide in the South Pacific; organizing trade shows in China; working for an art gallery in New York; running her own boutique on Long Island. She returned to India where another life began.

She has had three distinct careers: In music, as a writer, and as Executive Vice at Explocity.com, a media company.

Music:

She began her musical career with a rock band called Human Bondage while studying Dhrupad style of singing with Farid-Ud-Din Dagar.

In America, she performed extensively with musicians such as Ryo Kawasaki, Frank Tusa, John Scofield, Michael Brecker, Alex Blake, Badal Roy, Buddy Williams, Joe Farrell and others, showcasing her music at popular venues.

Back in India, she collaborated with musicians such as Louiz Banks, Amit Heri, Sanjay Divecha, Keith Peters and others before forming her own band UNK: The Radha Thomas Ensemble. This band, based in Bangalore. It is rated #1 nationally on Reverbnation. Their first album ‘I Only Have Eyes For You,’ has received excellent reviews and airplay all over America.

She also hosted a weekly jazz show on Radio Indigo in Bangalore.

Over the years, she has performed at major jazz festivals and clubs in India and abroad. She is considered one of the foremost indie / jazz vocalists in India.

Writing:

She is executive VP at Explocity.com, a media company out of Bangalore where she performed a dual role. Head of Business Development and Editor. She gained popularity for her column ‘Between the Sexes,’ a look at the odd way in which men and women see each other. She also wrote on health, diet and fitness.

She conceived of and produced a series of food guides called, ‘The Kingfisher Explocity Great Food Guide,’ which sold all over India around 2009 to around 2012, by which time the internet had seriously made a dent in the book publishing industry.

She produced a newspaper for Café Coffee Day, called ‘Café Beat.’

She has also written for many publications such as The Times of India, Midday, The Hindu, Man’s World, Men’s Health and others.

‘Men On My Mind’ and ‘More Men on My Mind, were her first two novels, published by Rupa, and have received wide acclaim for being unconventional and edgy. They follow a young woman’s quest for good sex. The third in the trilogy will be released shortly.

She has recently completed a book called ‘The Cauliflower Diet’ which will be released by Penguin Random House in early 2015. It is a recipe / low-carb diet book in which she has created several recipes using the cauliflower as a substitute for rice and other carb-heavy flour.

Business Development:

While it receives the least amount of space in her bio, she is embarrassed that it generated the most revenue. Some of her clients include Café Coffee Day, AOL, Yahoo, Bangalore International Airport, Kingfisher, United Spirits, Sab Miller, OnMobile, Dubai Shopping Festival, The Dubai Mall Group and many others.

Her hobbies are painting, playing guitar, watching cop shows on TV and playing with her dog Brownie. She has one son, Stefan Persson, who lives and works in New York.

Thomas continues to write, sing and wait for the fall season each year, when new shows are aired on TV.