#72: High Energy by Evelyn Thomas

City: Montreal, PQ
Radio Station: CKOI
Peak Month: September 1984
Peak Position in Montreal ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #85
Peak Position on Spain Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on the Danish Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Austrian Singles chart ~ #5
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #5
YouTube: “High Energy”
Lyrics: “High Energy”

Evelyn Thomas was born in Chicago in 1953. She was “discovered” by UK producer Ian Levine who brought her to the UK and took her to the recording studio. In 1976, Thomas released her debut single “Weak Spot” which reached #26 in the UK pop singles chart. A followup single, “Doomsday”, missed the Top 40 in the UK. Her 1978 debut album is titled I Wanna Make It on My Own. Four more singles were released in the late ’70s. Her second album, Have a Little Faith in Me, was released in 1979.

In 1984 she released an album titled High Energy, and the title track as a single.

“High Energy” was cowritten by producer Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench. Levine was born into a Jewish family in 1953 in Blackpool, England. He began working as a DJ at dance clubs in the early ’70s. In 1975 he co-wrote a Top 40 hit for the 1960s girl group The Exciters (of “Tell Him” fame). He also co-wrote dance hits for Barbara Pennington, and was working as a DJ in trendy gay dance clubs. Aside from his compositions tied Fiachra Trench, Levine has written songs recorded by Chuck Jackson. He co-wrote “I Found Heaven” which was a #15 hit in 1992 for Take That; the 1994 UK Top Ten hit “More To This World” for Bad Boys Inc., and the #11 hit for Upside Down titled “Change Your Mind” in 1996. He has also spent decades tracking down his extended family which included holocaust survivors. In 2014, Ian Levine suffered a stroke.

Fiachra Trench was born in Dublin in 1941. He studied chemistry in university. In the late ’60s he began writing and arranging music for recording artists. These include The Sweet, Thin Lizzy, Clodagh Rogers, The Searchers, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, Joan Armatrading, Van Morrison, Alison Moyet, Elvis Costello, Wet Wet Wet, Paul McCartney and others. In 1972, he was a studio musician on the Waterfall album by the progressive jazz-rock band If, and their subsequent album Double Diamond. In 1979, Trench wrote the string arrangements for the Boomtown Rats “I Don’t Like Mondays” hit single. In 1987, he wrote string arrangements for the Pogues’ “Fairytale In New York”. Trench has composed music for the films The Boxer (1997 starring Daniel Day Lewis), Pearl Harbor and The Tailor of Panama (both 2001), and The Ring (2002).

As a songwriting team, Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench found success in 1978 when James Wells “My Claim To Fame” shot to #4 on the U.S. Dance Club chart. In 1983, Levine and Trench penned “So Many Men, So Little Time”. It was a disco hit for Canadian recording artist Miquel Brown and reached #2 in Paraguay, #6 in Belgium, #8 in Finland and #11 in the Netherlands. That year Levine and Trench co-wrote “The Boys Come To Town” which was a Top Ten dance chart hit in the USA for Earlene Bentley. The duo wrote a Top 30 UK pop chart hit for Gems for Jem in 1995 titled “Lifting Me Higher”.

“High Energy” is a song depicting the magnetic, sexual and physical reaction they get from being with their lover. The pair have only met “last week.” But already she exclaims:
Every time you’re touching me,
it gives me such a thrill.
When I look deep into your eyes,
my heart just can’t keep still.

“High Energy” peaked at #3 in Montreal, and Miami. Internationally, the song peaked at #1 in West Germany and Spain, #3 in Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and #5 in Austria and the UK, #7 in Belgium, #9 in Norway, #12 in Ireland, and #18 in France. In 2003, the single was re-issued and charted below the Top 100 on the UK singles chart.

Hi-NRG is the name of a genre of uptempo dance music that enjoyed its first hit with Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” in 1977. Other notable songs in this genre include “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Do You Wanna Funk” by Sylvester, “Native Love (Step By Step)” and “You Think You’re A Man” by Divine, “Blue Monday” by New Order, “Living On Video” by Trans-X, “Smalltown Boy” and “Why?” by Bronski Beat, “I Love My Radio” by Taffy, “Two Of Hearts” by Stacy Q, “Boom Boom (Let’s Go Back To My Room)” by Paul Lekakis, “Cha-Cha Heels” by Eartha Kitt and Bronski Beat, “Always On My Mind” by the Pet Shop Boys, “Two Tribes” and “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt” and “This Time I Know It’s For Real” by Donna Summer, “The Loco-motion” by Kylie Minogue, and many more. Among the Hi-NRG discs played on the radio was “High Energy” by Evelyn Thomas.

In the following years, Evelyn Thomas released fourteen more singles in the mid-to-late ’80s. A few of these were Top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. This included a cover of the Supremes 1967 hit “Reflections”. Her final studio album, Standing at the Crossroads, was released in 1986. Both “Reflections” and “How Many Hearts” – a Hi-NRG #11 hit on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart – were on Thomas’ final album. However, other tracks from the album: “Cold Shoulder”, “Standing at the Crossroads” and “Tightrope” each failed to chart.

In 2008, Evelyn Thomas released her final single titled “Stick To The Plan”. Like the previous twelve single releases the single failed to chart. Twenty-two years after her last hit single, Evelyn Thomas and Ian Levine had a falling out.

In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked “High Energy” number 177 in their list of the “200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time”. In 2024, Evelyn Thomas died at the age of 70. Just before she died, she reached out to Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench who dropped everything mended fences.

June 4, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Njera Perkins and Jack Irvin, “Evelyn Thomas’ Daughter Wants to ‘Keep Her Legacy Alive’ After the ‘High Energy’ Singer’s Death at 70 (Exclusive),” People, July 26, 2024.
Alex Rigotti, “Evelyn Thomas, influential disco singer, has died aged 70,” NME, UK, July 21, 2024.
“Fiachra Trench,” Wikipedia.com.
“UK songwriter and producer Ian Levine ailing,” Soul Tracks, August 26, 2014.

CKOI 96.9 FM Montreal (PQ) Top Ten | September 7, 1984