Tony Thompson

Tony Thompson

Artist

Tony Thompson (September 2, 1975 – June 1, 2007) was the lead singer of the Waco, Texas-based R&B quintet Hi-Five. The group was signed to Jive Records in 1990 and produced a number of successful singles with the most popular being “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)” from their debut self-titled album. The song reached number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and the R&B chart. The group would go on to release two more albums—1992’s Keep It Goin' On and 1993’s Faithful—before disbanding in 1994.

Tony went on to record his debut solo album Sexsational for Giant Records in 1994 and released the album on June 23, 1995. The first single “I Wanna Love Like That”, which peaked at #14 on the U.S. R&B chart, was written by Babyface and featured production from Teddy Riley. The album featured contributions from a number of R&B stars including Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Al B. Sure!, Dave Hollister, Missy Elliott and DeVante Swing from Jodeci. The album peaked at #17 on the U.S. R&B Albums chart.

Thompson was briefly signed to Bad Boy Records to work on a solo sophomore release but nothing materialized. He re-formed Hi-Five with four new members to release an album in 2005 but three of the original group members filed a cease-and-desist order on the project. On June 1, 2007, Tony Thompson passed away after inhaling a toxic amount of freon.