Ernest Joseph "Tabby" Thomas, (January 5, 1929 – January 1, 2014), also known as Rockin' Tabby Thomas, was an American blues musician. He sang and played the piano and guitar and specialized in swamp blues, a style of blues indigenous to southern Louisiana.
Thomas was born and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. Self taught on both piano and guitar, he heard his first music on his mother's Victrola record player and at his father's Baptist church in their hometown. He picked up his nickname in his football-playing days at McKinley High School. “I was a quarterback, and I used to fake the ball, hide the ball; so they called me Tabby the Cat,” he explained in a 1996 interview. After graduating from high school he served in the U.S. Air Force, and while serving won a talent contest on KSAN radio in San Francisco in 1959 winning over such names as Etta James (then known as Jane Etta) and Johnny Mathis. This led to a record contract with Hollywood Records. Hollywood issued "Midnight Is Calling," which gained no attention, and the label dropped Thomas.
He then returned to Baton Rouge. In 1953, the group recorded two songs, “Thinking Blues" and "Church Members Ball" for the Delta label. After those songs didn't gain much attention, Thomas went through a number of record labels including Feature, Rocko, and Zynn before he became more successful with Excello Records, based in Crowley, Louisiana. His records for Excello included "Hoodo Party" in 1961. He often teamed up with harmonica players Whispering Smith and Lazy Lester, and did several sessions for Maison De Soul and various labels owned by Jay Miller. Thomas also worked in various jobs, including a time with Ciba Geigy, when he was a union steward.
He became one of the best-known blues musicians in Baton Rouge with his band, the Mellow, Mellow Men, but by the end of the '60s, he retired from performing music. His retirement was short-lived for in 1970, he founded his own record label, Blue Beat which released his recordings and those of other local musicians.
In 1978, with other members of his family, including his son Chris Thomas King, he reopened a rundown building on North Boulevard. He ran the venue as an authentic blues club, Tabby's Blues Box and Heritage Hall. By the mid 80s, the club was the most popular blues joint in Baton Rouge. The club moved in 2000 and eventually closed in November 2004.
Although he had become a successful businessman in the late '70s, Thomas continued to perform and record. All of his efforts from his recordings and concerts, to his label and nightclub made Tabby Thomas the leading figure of Baton Rouge's blues scene for nearly three decades. Thomas also became a popular performer in the UK in the 1990’s and Europe, where he made regular appearances. In his late years he received some long-overdue recognition, becoming a regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival.
Thomas had a serious automobile accident in 2002 and suffered a stroke while about to go onstage in 2004, which affected his playing but not his singing. He later hosted the radio show Tabby's Blues Box on the Baton Rouge stations WBRH-FM and KBRH-AM until 2010. At the end of the show, he would recite his closing mantra: “Blues is my life. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not saying it's right. C'est la vie!”
Tabby died in in his home town Baton Rouge, Louisiana on January 1, 2014, a few days shy of his 85th birthday and was interred at Port Hudson National Cemetery. He was married to his wife, Jocelyn, for more than 50 years. She passed away in 2005.