Thomas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and began his career in entertainment at local dancehalls such as the "Adastra Gardens" and "Success".

[3] Early singles featuring Flea's vocal performances were attributed to "The Blue Mountain Caroleers" or "The Jamaican Calypsonians".

[4] Bill Saxon, owner of 'Club Calypso' on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, traveled to Jamaica in order to search out an 'authentic sound' for his Florida venue.

Saxon offered a residency lasting from two to six months, with the proviso that those artists that wished to apply for the gig, must have previously recorded some music.

In a 1957 interview for the UK Calypso Star magazine, Lord Flea explained: "In Jamaica, we call our music 'mento' until very recently.

Some people like to think of West Indians as carefree natives who work and sing and play and laugh their lives away.

Fellow bandmate Pork Chops can be seen in the picture alongside Flea, with the Calypsonians' bongo-player sat high upon a large barrel.

The review also added that Lord Flea & His Calypsonians produced "attention-grabbing sides [which] can stir action at all levels.

Unfortunately for the Caribbean mento/calypso artists, as Time magazine had already noted in March 1957: "Financially, American imitators are doing better than such authentic calypso singers as The Duke of Iron, or Lord Flea and His Calypsonians (Lord Fish Ray, Count Spoon, et al), whose cleaned-up version of the nocturnal wanderings of a flea is also a nightclub favorite."

According to daughter Kathie Way-Giddarie: "Each evening during his hospital stay, he would play music for the doctors, nurses and the patients on the isolation ward."

[6] In "Mister Give Me Ma Rent", the Lord tells of a problem landlady who is "..too rude – in my affairs she likes to intrude.."[11] The song goes on to depict financial woes and poor accommodation common to many Jamaicans of the time: In his "Calypso Be Bop", Flea name-checks his Bebop heroes.

Even the most solemn song, like "Las Kean Fine" ("Lost and Can Not Be Found"), which tells of a boiler explosion on a sugar plantation that killed several of the workers, their natural wit and humor shine though.

has been also been covered by Belafonte (who stated that Lord Flea was the song's composer), as well as Miriam Makeba, and Toots and the Maytals amongst others.