Chicago’s Grammy® Award winning Thompson Community Singers, or The Tommies, as their fans call them; dominated the gospel music airwaves from the start of the Reagan administration to the close of Clinton’s. They reigned as America’s No. 1 choir with massive hits such as “For the Good of Them,” “There is No Failure in God,” “If I Be Lifted,” “Available to You” and “Safe in His Arms” which still pulls 50,000 streams a week – over thirty years after its initial release in 1986. They enjoyed a solid decade of success that included five Billboard No. 1 albums and numerous accolades.

The original Thompson Community Singers were formed by Rev. Milton Brunson in 1948 when he was still a high school student. The community choir regularly met and rehearsed at Chicago’s St. Stephens Church where the pastor, Rev. Eugene Thompson, was a huge supporter, and christened itself in his honor. Brunson eventually became an ordained minister and formed Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in 1962 on Chicago’s westside. The group began recording for Vee-Jay Records in 1963 at the same time that the historic Black-owned label introduced the now-iconic Beatles rock band’s first LP to a North American audience. Over the years, the group recorded for HOB/Scepter Records and Nashboro/Creed Records before joining Word Records (Myrrh/Rejoice) in 1982. Rev. Brunson died suddenly in 1997. His widow continued the choir for a while before disbanding it and supervised its final album Real for Word Records in 2000.

Darius Brooks did not want the rich legacy to be forgotten. So, he reassembled many of the original singers and band members along with some new young talent and put them back together again as The Tommies Reunion. Brooks served as the Minister of Music for Rev. Brunson and The Thompson Community Singers for over 30 years and wrote many of The Tommies’ biggest hits. He has thrived in almost every musical capacity imaginable from artist, songwriter, producer, composer, accompanist, and arranger for a host of Gospel luminaries including The Thompson Community Singers, Shirley Cesar, Vickie Winans, Hezekiah Walker, and Ricky Dillard, Jazz Legend Ramsey Lewis, as well as R&B icons Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder and R&B Diva Avery Sunshine to name but a few. In addition to his unprecedented musical gift, Brooks headed the call and became the founding pastor of Grace Central Church in 2009.

Darius Brooks & The Tommies Reunion just recorded brand-new music on June 18th, 2022. Before the pandemic hit in March of 2020, they were traveling around the country bringing audiences to their feet performing the songs that made them the number 1 choir in the country for two decades straight in the 80s and 90s as well as some of their new music. Their last album The Tommies Reunion Live (7 Legends/JMG/Tyscot), which featured the radio single, “He Worked It Out,” was a Top 30 hit. “It is reminiscent of the legendary Tommies’ sound,” Jay Bryant, Program Director at WAGG 100.1 FM/610 AM in Birmingham, AL, says of the song. “There is no other group exactly like them. It can be argued that the Tommies are the best choir ever.”

The choir has released three projects as The Tommies Reunion: Side A (JMG) in 2006, Side B (JMG) in 2008 and The Tommies Reunion LIVE (7 Legends/JMG/Tyscot) in 2019. THE RICH MUSICAL HISTORY OF THE TOMMIES WILL CONTINUE WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR LATEST SINGLE, MY MIND’S MADE UP (JMG). THE FULL PROJECT IS SCHEDULED TO DROP IN LATE 2023!

Darius Brooks & The Tommies Reunion are on the road again inspiring generations, both young and old, with music that is heard with the ear but understood with the heart!