B.J. Thomas, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ Singer, Dead at 78

[IceWizard]

B.J. Thomas, ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head’ Singer,
Dead at 78


Grammy-winning singer had hits in pop, country, and gospel with songs
like “Hooked on a Feeling” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody
Done Somebody Wrong Song”




B.J. Thomas
Redferns




B.J. Thomas, the vocalist who mixed the stylish sophistication of a pop crooner
and the down-home soul of a country singer on songs like the 1969 smash
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” died Saturday in his Arlington, Texas home
at the age of 78. A rep for Thomas confirmed the singer’s death.
The cause of death was lung cancer, which Thomas had publicly revealed
he had in March.

Thomas’ multi-genre success included major hits on the adult contemporary
and Christian music charts, the latter of which would earn him five Grammy Awards
and two Gospel Music Association Dove awards. But the singer is arguably best
remembered for the breezy pop classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” one
of the most successful singles of all time and a 2014 inductee into the
Grammy Hall of Fame. Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the
1969 Paul Newman/Robert Redford Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,
Thomas’ rendition would log four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and win the
Oscar for Best Original Song. Despite the song’s success, Thomas’ crossover
appeal wasn’t fully reached until 1975 with the release of Larry Butler and
Chips Momans’ “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,”
which hit Number One on the pop chart before duplicating the feat on
Billboard’s country survey.


Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, and grew up in Houston, Texas, where
he first sang in public at the Temple Oaks Baptist Church before moving with his family
to nearby Rosenberg when he was 15. At Lamar Consolidated High School, he played
baseball and picked up the nickname “B.J.” because there were already several Billys
in the league. He also sang in the choir alongside his older brother, Jerry, while idolizing
performers like country-music icon Hank Williams and R&B legend Jackie Wilson.

After a stint with the band the Triumphs, Thomas released a cover of Williams’
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in 1966. He’d go on to have hits in the late Sixties with
songs like “Mama,” “The Eyes of a New York Woman,” and the Top Five original recording
of “Hooked on a Feeling,” later a 1974 Number One for Blue Swede. In 1969, just before
“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” he released his version of the oft-covered country
song “Skip a Rope.”

Thomas was often booked on package tours, playing on the same shows with artists including
Gene Pitney, Bobby Goldsboro, and the McCoys. The road to the multimillion-selling “Raindrops”
was similarly packed with various artists vying to record the track. In 2013, Thomas told
Performing Songwriter that Bacharach wrote the melody to fit Bob Dylan. “In subsequent
years Burt has denied it, but this is what I understood at the time,” Thomas said. “Burt really
admired Bob Dylan and the way he phrased. When Bob, for whatever reason, didn’t do it,
I was his second choice.”

Yet, according to Steve Tyrell, a Scepter Records A&R executive at the time and the singer’s
future manager, Ray Stevens was offered “Raindrops” but passed. Whatever the circumstances,
when Thomas went in to record the song, he did so against his doctor’s orders — he was
besieged by laryngitis. Nonetheless, after several takes, Bacharach was satisfied and an exec
from 20th Century Fox hailed the singer for performing with a rasp that sounded similar to
the film’s costar Paul Newman. Thomas performed the song at the 1970 Academy Awards,
a segment that was followed by a choreographed homage to the film’s iconic
Newman-Katherine Ross bicycle scene.

Thomas met his future wife Gloria Richardson at Van’s Ballroom in Houston in 1967.
The couple wed in December 1968 in Las Vegas and their oldest daughter, Paige, was
born in 1970. The couple would adopt their middle daughter, Nora, in 1978;
third daughter, Erin, was born in 1979.



B.J. Thomas and Gloria Richardson



Thomas, who moved from Texas to Memphis and then to New York City before settling
into a home in the Connecticut countryside, continued to score hit singles while frequently
touring the world. He briefly capitalized on his fame and blue-eyed matinee idol looks,
playing a doomed gunslinger in the 1973 Western Jory. Thomas would act onscreen in
only one other film in the 2008 comedy-drama Jake’s Corner.

But while his professional life was flourishing, Thomas’ drug addiction was spiraling
out of control. As chronicled in startling detail in the 1978 autobiography Home Where I Belong,
Thomas was spending a fortune on pills, cocaine, and other substances, and was
perilously close to divorce before finally kicking his drug habit in early 1976. Later that
year, the singer, who as a child would rush home from school to watch Mahalia Jackson
sing on television, recorded his first gospel-centered album for Christian label Myrrh Records.
Also titled Home Where I Belong, it was the first of four consecutive Grammy winners for
him in the Best Inspirational Performance category.

Simultaneously, he experienced a resurgence in country music with the Number One hits
“Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” and “New Looks From an Old Lover.” Invited to
join the Grand Ole Opry in 1981, Thomas became a member on his 39th birthday. Although
his Opry membership eventually lapsed, he continued to make guest appearances on the
radio show throughout the remainder of his life.

In the Eighties, Thomas charted with the single “Two Car Garage” and two more Top 20 country
singles before returning to the Adult Contemporary Top Ten in 1988 with Dusty Springfield on
the duet “As Long As We Got Each Other,” the theme from TV’s Growing Pains, which he also
performed solo and with singer Jennifer Warnes during various seasons of the long-running sitcom.

In 2013, Wrinkled Records issued The Living Room Sessions, a 12-track collection of acoustic
renditions of Thomas’ memorable hits. Produced by Kyle Lehning (Randy Travis), the LP included
guest appearances from Lyle Lovett, Keb’ Mo’, Etta Britt, and Richard Marx. Among the highlights
was a stunning version of “I Just Can’t Help Believing” with Vince Gill, a song Thomas first cut
in 1970 and released with the B-side “Send My Picture to Scranton, PA.” Elvis Presley would go
on to make “I Just Can’t Help Believing” a centerpiece of his Las Vegas concerts.

In March, Thomas announced that he was diagnosed with lung cancer and asked that his music
may live on with his fans. “I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to record and perform
beautiful songs in pop, country, and gospel music, and to share those wonderful songs and
memories around the world with millions of you,” he wrote

[Charon]

May he rest in the arms of the Lord Himself now.