[2] As a teenager, Thomas fell in love with the sound of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, and his mother eventually bought him one, earning him the nickname "Strat" ever since.
In 1982 Thomas played guitar on George Clinton's first solo recording project Computer Games,[3] which included the hit songs Atomic Dog and Loopzilla.
[10] Thomas' guitar work with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic related projects has been sampled by many artists, including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Digital Underground, Too Short, Tweedy Bird Loc and Ruthless Rap Assassins.
[11][12][13] Due to his guitar tone and playing style, Thomas has been compared to Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Hazel.
[14] Two hours after George Clinton announced the death of Tony Thomas on his Facebook page, Eric Brenner confirmed the story with Steve Muruga Booker.