Thomas Francis is one of Toronto’s leading pianists and is well-known for his extensive background in jazz and soul-based music. Thomas became sensitive to the structure of classical and standards while feeding off of the musicality and expression of Jazz, Soul, Latin and Funk music.
At 16, Thomas was awarded Downbeat’s Outstanding Performance award, and in the summer of 2007 joined the Toronto All-Star Big Band. He completed his diploma at Humber College’s full-time program and went on to complete his B.F.A in Music at York University.

Outside of piano and keyboard performance, Thomas is well-known for his musicianship skills in writing and arranging for strings, having established his own contemporary string ensemble, The Four Strings. Thomas can often be seen playing with Canadian icons such as Juno winning Jazz vocalist Kellylee Evans, Pop artist Myles Castello, Country artist Emily Reid, or Soul diva Elise LeGrow. He has performed and/or recorded with Tony Royster Jr. (Jay-Z), Alexis Baro (Juno nominated Jazz artist), Dan Talevski (MMVA nominated), Melanie Durrant (Juno nominated R&B artist), KC Roberts & The Live Revolution (Toronto Funk band), The Reklaws (Juno nominated country duo), and George St. Kitts (Juno nominated Toronto Soul icon). He was also musical director for The Spandettes, a female-fronted, Toronto-based, Disco/R&B group, with whom he toured to Japan. Thomas can be seen in his element with his instrumental Hip-Hop/Jazz ensemble, Thomas Francis Friends.