Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band

Pat Thomas is a Ghanaian vocalist and songwriter famed for his work in the highlife bands of Ebo Taylor and his own recordings of Afrobeat and Afro-pop.

Born in Agona, in the Ashanti region, Thomas had music almost literally in his DNA, his father was a music theory instructor and his mother a bandleader. In the 1970s, he moved to Accra to join Ebo Taylor's legendary highlife band The Blue Monks; their residency at the Tip Toe Night Club is an important part of modern Ghanaian cultural history. In the later years he moved to the Ivory Coast and produced various records in Afro-beat, Afro-Latin sounds and reggae melded to funky African disco.

In 1982, he moved to London, U.K and recorded Hitsville Revisited with Taylor and the guitarist's band, Uhuru Yenzu. Thomas's first hit outside Africa was 'Asanteman' in 1985. He followed it with Highlife Greats Mbrepa a year later. In June 2015, the U.K. label Strut released his first recording in over a decade. Dubbed Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band, it was recorded in Accra. It placed the singer in the company of a band assembled by multi-instrumentalist Kwame Yeboah and saxophonist Ben Abarbanel-Wolff. Other musicians included drummer Tony Allen, Noble Kings' bassist Ralph Karikari, and a host of younger players including Thomas' daughter Nanaaya, a celebrated vocalist in her own right.