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BackStage Hall of Fame inductee, The Fabulous Ms. Jo Thompson, will debut a new show - Thank You Lena!!! at Metropolitan Room, on August 7, 2010, at 7pm Thank You Lena!!! was conceived by Jo Thompson’s son, journalist Greg Dunmore, as a tribute to Ms. Horne, who befriended Jo when both young women were booked at Jack Goldman's Clover Club in Miami in 1953.
Ms. Thompson is 
one of a handful of working performers with firsthand recall of engagements at Sans Souci in pre-Castro Havana, Café Society in New York, the Stork Room in London and many other glamorous and historic post-swing venues from Beverly Hills to Paris. She acknowledges Horne’s combination of sass and sophistication as an influence on her own development:
“In the early years, our audiences were often segregated,” says Ms. Thompson, “and as Black female musicians, we understood the concept of class was paramount to our image and our ability to dispel ugly stereotypes. Lena was the epitome of class and I admired and emulated her example. ”
Jo Thompson, a timeless, knockout beauty in the general neighborhood of 80 years old, plays piano and vamps, purrs and growls her way through fifteen cheeky standards on Jo Thompson Forever Fabulous, a new CD just released on JazzJewels Digital with the J.C. Heard Orchestra under the direction of Walt Szymanski. Her debut CD, Slender, Tender and Tall, released in 2002, prompted the following from Christopher Loudon in JazzTimes: “…she’s still, as Cole Porter so succinctly put it, ‘got that thing’.” A syndicated columnist called Ms. Thompson "a piano playing Lena Horne, a singing Hazel Scott and all the good qualities of Bobby Short rolled into one package.”
Ms. Thompson’s press kit is packed with articles and reviews from the present, dating back to 
the 1950’s, when legendary journalist, Walter Winchell, published her first piece of major New York ink in his influential column. Though Ms. Thompson was a rising star with a promising career, she took a couple of decades off to raise three sons with her husband in their home town of Detroit, where she performed through the 70’s. Returning to the New York scene in the 1990’s, Ms. Thompson was booked for a two-week engagement at Michael’s Pub, and was held over for five weeks. She won back the attention of New York audiences and press, and garnered a BackStage Bistro Award in 1994, in the Vocalist/Instrumentalist category. As a BackStage Hall of Fame inductee, she shares the company of luminaries Eartha Kitt, Bobby Short and Rosemary Clooney.
“Jo Thompson is a stick of human dynamite….If you don’t get to her show, you’ll be missing out on the liveliest, lustiest hour in town.”…Time Out New York
“Jo Thompson is, in a word, terrific. Amazing is another word that comes to mind.”
…The New York Post
“Thumping vitality…a robust sense of humor…” …The New York Times
Who: The Fabulous Ms. Jo Thompson in: Thank You Lena!!!
What: Show debut and new CD debut in one night!
Show: Thank you Lena!!!
CD: Jo Thompson Forever Fabulous with the J.C Heard Orchestra directed by Walt Szymanski
When: August 7, 2010 at 7pm
Where: Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, NYC
How: Call (212)206-0440 or visit: www.metropolitanroom.com
To order CD: Forever Fabulous Visit Ms. Thompson’s website at: http://www.jazzjewels.tv/
Press: Betsyann Faiella, Savoy Communications (310)283-2415
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