Ray Thomas

Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter and flute player (died 2018)

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Born: December 29, 1941
Died: January 4, 2018
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Birth year: 1941

About Ray Thomas

Raymond Thomas (29 December 1941 – 4 January 2018) was an English musician, singer and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member of the English progressive rock band the Moody Blues. His flute solo on the band's 1967 hit single "Nights in White Satin" is regarded as one of progressive rock's defining moments. In 2018, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues. Thomas was born at an emergency maternity unit set up during the Second World War in Lickhill Manor, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Ray Thomas was born

Ray Thomas was born in 1941. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1941

#1 song"Chattanooga Choo Choo" – Glenn Miller
Top movieCitizen Kane
Best-selling bookThe Keys of the Kingdom – A.J. Cronin

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJoe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
Top headlineJapan bombs Pearl Harbor — United States enters World War II
Technology milestoneFirst commercial television broadcasts (CBS, NBC)
Defining fadVictory gardens
Notable inventionAerosol spray can
World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
U.S. population133.4M

1941 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Ray Thomas's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1941	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,500	$435,000
Average income	$3,400	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	133.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.