B. J. Thomas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

B. J. (Billy Joe) Thomas (born August 7, 1942 in Hugo, Oklahoma) grew up around Houston, Texas, and is a country and pop music/soft rock/easy listening singer. After a brief period with The Triumphs^[1], Thomas began a solo career with a hit cover of the classic Hank Williams song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" in 1966. However, despite some follow up chart singles, Thomas was unable to achieve massive mainstream success until 1969's "Hooked on a Feeling" that featured the sound of the Electric Sitar and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (Burt Bacharach and Hal David) from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. During this period he was the voice of many commercial jingles for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, AT&T and others available from the artist's website.

"Raindrops" became the first #1 hit of the 1970s peaking during January of the new decade.

By the 1970s, Thomas had switched to Paramount Records and released "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", his second #1 hit. His string of hits continued, peaking in 1984 with "Two Car Garage", "Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover" (see 1984 in music). Other charts appearances included "Just Can't Help Believing" (Billboard #9 in 1970) and "Mighty Clouds of Joy".

He scored another hit by recording the theme to Growing Pains with Jennifer Warnes. A later version, used for much of the show's run, was recorded with British singer Dusty Springfield.

In the 1990s and 2000s, though his name as a star in the mainstream cooled, Thomas has continued to tour and record to a small but loyal fan base, and he has also found some new fans in contemporary Christian music.

B.J. Thomas has also authored two books and starred in the movie "Jory".

B.J. Thomas is an alumnus of Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, Texas

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

B.J. Thomas Artist Website [1]