The letter told us that The Thief's given name was given by his mom based on a famous singer. To find the singer, we can do simple Google Dorking with the term: "singer" "dies at 77" won big competition and set the time to two months before December 2024, which would be around September-October 2024.
Google gave us either Frankie Beverly or Martin Lee as the answer. Considering that Martin Lee won Eurovision & was based in Europe, it's the more probable answer.