The Thompsons

The Thompson family home on the 1400 block of N. 25th St. housed ten children, seven brothers and three sisters, all of which had an affinity for singing thanks to their parents' love of gospel music. Cornelius “Lefty”, Sylvester “Lightbulb”, and William “Bill” Thompson met future group member and neighborhood playmate Sandy Andersen at a young age. Sandy quickly became an honorary Thompson and began singing with the brothers while attending Vaux Jr High School at 25th and Master. Performances at the time were limited to impromptu requests for the brothers to flex their vocal abilities and school talent shows. There is only one known recording of a select few Thompson brothers around this time period. A Virtue acetate containing uptempo covers of the gospel standards “Old Man River” and “In The Garden”, a result of a recording session paid for by an older singer from the neighborhood featuring teenaged Thompsons on background vocals. After a particularly well received school talent show appearance, The Thompsons appointed their class president, Eric Ward, as the group's manager, despite his lack of experience with managing musical groups. What the Thompsons did see in Ward was the drive, polish and business acumen that they needed to further their singing careers beyond the school auditorium.