Known for his highlife music, Pat Thomas has been referred to as “The Golden Voice of Africa”. A title Thomas was awarded in 1978, it encapsulates the Ghanaian-born songwriter, producer, and musicians presence in the Afro-beat scene, as well as his representation of Ghanaian-style melodies and rhythms in an international context.

Born Namo Kwabena Amo Mensah, in the small town of Agona, in the Ashanti region of Ghana, Thomas was surrounded by music in his family, with his father being a music theory instructor, his mother a bandleader, and his uncle a famous guitarist by the name of King Onyina.

Thomas is known for his fluidity through genres, with his music touching on areas of Afrobeat and Afro-pop, a sound he honed in on in the late 1970s. He expanded his sound to include Afro-Latin sounds and melodies in the 1980s, and moved to Toronto, Canada in 1990, and took up a position teaching in university, taking a break from performing in order to focus on his teaching. However, he would still travel to Europe to play summer festivals.