Meet Rhayne Thomas | Entertainer, Cancer Spokesperson & Founder of National Prune Day, June 15th!

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rhayne Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rhayne, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
As an entertainer and cancer spokesperson of almost 50 years, the “end” of my professional career is when I’m no longer alive, so I want to make sure I am impactful with every move to keep empowering others by “Healing Hearts through Laughter & Prunes!” long after I am gone.

I come from a very dark and secretive background that did everything it could to kill my self respect, my self confidence and, my dreams…but, in spite of it all, I am still happily moving forward to tell others to KEEP GOING!!!

My end goals include; Being one of the most humorous inspirational wellness speakers in the world by using “The Blues”, “PrunesAreSexy” and “National Prune Day, June 15th”, to create global “Health Sexy!” awareness. I want to be a guest on Jimmy Fallon, and on the cover of Vogue magazine, to show that a hippie Bronx girl like me can really make a difference in the world by just being herself.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a Blues vocalist who, at age 3, started singing The Blues in The Baby Grand bar in Harlem. Yes, bar, or a “juke” joint. That would have been 1969 or 1970 when an adult could take you to a place like that.

In my case, it was my father, a street hustler with a “real” job, who always took me to places like that because he loved a “drink and a get down!” He would sit me on the bar top, next to the jukebox, and he was off to party. Sitting next to the jukebox is how I learned Blues songs. Before I go on, here is the dictionary’s definition of “Juke” and “Jukebox” to make following this story a little easier.

“Why is it called a jukebox?
In the 1930s, a juke was a small restaurant where people could eat, drink, and dance. “Juking” meant dancing and getting rowdy. When a music vending machine came along, people called it a jukebox because they could crank up the music and really let loose.”

Now that you know all about “Juke”, you can envision me sitting next to one just listening to Blues singers crooning about love, lust, hate, going to jail, killing their lover, stealing their dog, and more.

Since I grew up in a background that didn’t allow me to trust adults, especially parents, I somehow understood those lyrical emotions that somehow offered a “mental release” to my kid mind. I must also tell you that my family considered themselves “highly religious” so mixing secular and non-secular music was a sure way to Hell.

I was such a curious kid but needed to make myself as small and invisible as possible in our 800 square foot Bronx apartment where I worked on many different projects I learned at school and elsewhere.

In kindergarten, my teacher, Ms. Viga, taught me how to grow a garden, finger paint fabrics, make candles from crayons, make butter from cream, play the violin, recorder, triangle, and xylophone, and, sing the National Anthem. At age six, a wonderful woman at church taught me how to crochet, knit and loom. At age eight, a cousin taught me how to use a sewing machine so I started making all my own clothes, and since I come from a Southern background, I also started baking cakes, cookies and candies, all from scratch.

My favorite fruit has always been Prunes (no surprise there!) so I made sure I used it in my recipes as often as possible, especially in place of sugar. By age 10, I started voluntarily fundraising and speaking on behalf of cancer at a hospital while visiting an admitted Uncle, not cancer related. And, at age 11, I had an English teacher that helped me write articles about Prunes for the school newspaper.

Let’s fast forward. After years of juke joints, Southern Baptist church attendance, watching bad adult behavior and lots of mental abuse, I knew I wanted to sing. I wanted to sing those beautiful church song praises I learned, to God…and I also wanted to sing those gritty, but real, Blues songs I heard on those jukeboxes. But how could I do both without going to Hell?

In 1978, my junior high school music teacher, Ms. Ballenger, wanted me to “try out for the High School of Music & Art” and told my parents, “Your daughter has something special. Let her try out.” I auditioned, singing the National Anthem, a song chosen FOR me by the auditioning teacher, Ms. DelValle. I couldn’t believe I was accepted because I had been told my entire life that I “was not talented, nor beautiful, and no one in their right mind would come see an ugly untalented woman sing.”

Sidebar: My junior high school English teacher, Mr. Mondorf, was the first person to really acknowledge my talents, along with a few other classmates. Mr. Mondorf had us perform classic stories through song, acting and dance, and, he took us to see Broadway musicals every Sunday for TWO YEARS!! He always told me that I was a “great and funny talent and could change the world with your enthusiasm for life!” Thank you Mr. Mondorf.

I started Music & Art High School in 1980 with many other students like myself who wanted to perform on some level, so my journey began. Actually, my real journey of being two different people really began. At school I was free to be my funny, talented, genuine hippie self, but at home I just lived inside myself trying to navigate all the negativity brought on by family. I always wondered how could a person live with so much immense joy and immense pain at the same time but I did…and singing The Blues, and Gospel, taught me how to understand living in both.

After graduating in 1984 from my wonderful “Fame! I’m gonna live forever!” life at Music & Art, I lost my way. I no longer had that artistic support to help my self confidence so I started slipping into jobs and relationships that further chipped away at my nonexistent self confidence. I would get a great gig and somehow sabotage it because my family’s voices stayed in my head. I continued running away from my family but never towards my dreams because I no longer knew how. And with that, in 1992, I decided I would no longer perform because I “guess they were right…who in their right mind would come see me? I’m not beautiful or funny or talented, so why bother?” Silence.

In 1993, someone else believed in me and started nudging me to sing, and I did, but I was too broken to “keep believing”, so I fell silent once more. Of course I sang internally but “the voices” truly ruled my mind and being able to sing became my own dirty little secret. And yes, I was still running away.

After many devastating experiences and self-silencing, I met my husband. My husband always believed in me and my talents but I still could not allow that part of me to open up again because the pain was too great. He supported my meager audition efforts, came to see my many performances but every performance led to nowhere, confirming my “truth” of being an “ugly nobody.”

In 2010, two of my Cousins that I had not met before, came to visit my father in Las Vegas and asked me to “Visit them in West Virginia.” Ugh. Here we go again. But, something deep down told me to visit them anyway, and I am SO HAPPY I did!

I decided to visit Pam and Melvin a few months later and my life changed in an instant. Somehow Pam had a copy of one of the books I wrote ( Yes, I’ve written five!) and was “Proud to show off my Cousin!” I stayed at their home while Pam started putting together successful book signings all over their West Virginia city! Wow!

Pam is a minister, real estate agent and a genuinely loving person so people did not hesitate to support her “supporting her Cousin.” A super awesome realtor colleague, Becky Callaway, came to the rescue with Rotary Club signings! And one of the kindest women on the planet is a woman named Cindy Martin that interviewed me for a WV magazine. Cindy and her husband Wayne, will never know how much they mean to me. Of course, my ability to sing was still a secret so “let’s just be a writer.”

Thanks to my Cousins, the wonderful people of West Virginia made it easy for me to come back for more book signings. Pam worked her magic, had me return in a couple of months for a signing at Starbucks, and THAT was the beginning of getting my voice back!

A guy named Will Scott Hill, (whom I call WSH), came to the very packed Starbucks signing and, for whatever reasons, he and I hit it off like we had been friends for years. Of course he bought books and invited to visit some schools with him to “encourage young people of WV to go for their dreams!” I went wherever he took me, happy to help “future writers”.

At some point we ended up at Liberty High School, in an auditorium, where the topic of music came up. I talked briefly about how I “used to sing” and quickly moved on to writing. WSH always made sure there was a “Q & A” at the end of every session and a student asked me to sing something for them. I was absolutely stunned, and unprepared, but I sang a Blues song I had carried in my heart since childhood. Song. Silence. Explosive applause. YIKES! One look at WSH and even though I had no idea what was going to happen next, I knew it would also be explosive. Once we were in the car WSH wanted to know WHY I never told him I could sing. “I never tell anybody.”

I am going to fast forward once again because West Virginia changed my life in ways I could not possibly imagine. One minute Cousins who were strangers were inviting me to visit and the next minute I was singing the National Anthem for The Rocket Boys Festival, (Google it!) cast in principle roles of Hatfields & McCoys, Paradise Park and October Sky, The Musical! as Homer Hickam’s mom! I was doing Writer’s Workshops with Homer Hickam (another Google opportunity!) and proudly featured on the marquee at Kevin Traube’s world’s famous Chocolate Moose in Beckley, WV!

WSH had pulled out ALL the stops, including creating a “Get in free to Theatre WV on July 15th if you wear Pink for breast cancer Awareness Day!” Why July 15th? Because that was the anniversary date of me being free of breast cancer! (I believe it’s worth mentioning that I became 13 years cancer-free on July 15th, 2024!) And WSH overpacked that beautiful outdoor theatre space to get the message across. Even though WSH might have gotten it all done alone, he pulled in some other heavy hitters that I need to thank.

Kathy Whatha Hill, his wife and my great friend, was right there driving me everywhere when dead tired, cheering my every move and letting me shop in her closet. Burke Allen and Homer Hickam made sure I received enormous media coverage and Danny Boyd rewrote me into his WV cult classic film, Paradise Park. Of course there are countless others that got this thing rolling and I am SO grateful!

I guess this long story is the shortest version I know in order to tell you how I became the person I am today. My story needs no pity or tears, it’s just a story to inspire anyone else “hiding in plain sight”to know you CAN heal with the right people in your corner.

Here are some of the things I’ve learned on this challenging journey that I want others to know;

Some people really want you to win!
Some people don’t want you to win!
Surround yourself with greatness!
Find people who believe in you!
Do what you can to feel valuable!
Embrace Laughter! ALWAYS!
“Everything good TO you, ain’t good FOR you!”

“Everywhere you go, there you are!”

“I am talented!”

“I am a good person!”

“Prunes Are Sexy!”

“People say Prunes are all ugly and wrinkled. Maybe so, but if you’re only looking on the outside then, like most people, you’re going to miss all that goodness on the inside!”

And most importantly, “KEEP GOING!”

Thank you for this wonderful opportunity to tell my story as it is TRULY an honor. Continued Love & Success!

Rhayne in the desert

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh how I absolutely LOVE showing my best friend every new place I love in a city I love! Since I travel constantly, I make sure to immerse myself in whatever that city has to offer.

Los Angeles is my west coast version of my home city of New York so it’s easy to show off even though my bestie and I have very different tastes. I would definitely take her to The Hollywood sign, Santa Monica Pier, Chinese Theatre, Museum of Art, Venice boardwalk and Grand Central Market.

I am a serious eater so I would make sure she became gluttonous with me at Levain Bakery, Oriel French Wine Bar, Mariscos Jalisco Food Truck and Dulans Food Truck. She loves to shop so Rodeo Drive would fill many late afternoons with nightly meals and drinks at The Bike Shed Moto Company. LOVE THEM!!

How about a day at the Hobbit House to shake things up? Or at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre? I would certainly drag her into a few beach caves and re-win her trust with a decadent massage at Wi Spa on Wilshire Blvd.

It’s definitely worth mentioning that I go back and forth between Las Vegas and Los Angeles with FLIXBUS as my travel choice. FLIXBUS has never let me down with its cushy velvet seats, giant windows, interesting passengers, interesting drivers, scenic HOV lane drive and cost friendly trips. LOVE!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are SO many people I want to dedicate my shoutout to that I don’t think there are enough years to do it, but here goes!

God. First. Middle. Last. Always.

My husband: Believes in me no matter what I am doing, never judged me, never tried to change me and, taught me how to Love and Believe in myself.

Carmen: My best friend, who prepped me for myself, and my hubby. Always believed in me no matter what craziness I brought to her. Thank you for ALWAYS being there for me.

Cousins Pam & Melvin, and WSH & WTH: Without the four of you, the songs inside of me would still be silent.

To all my teachers who saw “great things” in me and encouraged me to “Keep going!”

And to all my friends, acquaintances, associates and strangers that have touched my life, each and EVERY day, on this journey, that give me a reason to “Keep going!”

Website: https://PrunesAreSexy.com

Instagram: @PrunesAreSexy

Linkedin: Rhayne Thomas

Twitter: @PrunesAreSexy

Facebook: Rhayne Thomas

Image Credits
@CaPrunes
@JamesCollier