Ural Thomas (born 21 December 1939)^[1] is an American soul music singer. While Thomas has made music for over fifty years, his public performances span two eras: the 1950s through the 1960s, and from 2013 through the present as Ural Thomas and the Pain.

Thomas was born in Louisiana, learning to sing in church.^[2] The seventh of sixteen children, his family relocated to Portland, Oregon when he was a young child.^[3] He attended Jefferson High School.^[4]

Thomas became a professional singer in the 1950s as a young man, with over forty performances at the Apollo Theater.^[5] He worked with or opened for musicians such as Etta James,^[4] Otis Redding, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder.^[1] Thomas moved back to Portland in 1968.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 2010s Scott Magee, a Portland-based soul DJ, learned via the owner of Mississippi Records that Thomas—whose early records he spun—still lived in Portland.^[1] Despite having weekly jam sessions in his home, a tradition started in the 1970s, Thomas seldom played live shows.^[6] Together, Thomas and Magee created Ural Thomas and the Pain, an eight-piece backing band for Thomas's vocals.^[2] The group has released two full length albums: 2016's self-titled release and 2018's The Right Time, the latter of which was released on the label Tender Loving Empire.^[7] The band has played in venues as large as the main stage of the Waterfront Blues Festival.^[8] Their third album, Dancing Dimensions, was released on Bella Union in June, 2022.^[9][10]

• Ural Thomas and the Pain
• Tender Loving Empire: Ural Thomas and the Pain