Thomas on The Ed Sullivan Show on January 25th, 1970. He married, in 1968, the singer-songwriter Gloria Richardson. 'Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head' performed by 24-year old B.J. Having grown up in an emotionally repressed household, B J Thomas found that singing was a release and always engaged passionately with his material: “There were plenty of guys who could sing better than me, but I don’t think there was anybody who believed what they were singing any more than me.” Earlier this year he announced that he had lung cancer. The singer recorded the Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition for. His autobiography, Home Where I Belong, was published in 1978. Thomas didnt write Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head. In 2008 he appeared in the film Jake’s Corner and in 2013 released The Living Room Sessions, a well-received album of acoustic arrangements of his biggest hits. He also performed As Long As We Got Each Other, the theme for the sitcom Growing Pains, and released a duet of it with Dusty Springfield. Thomas’s last pop hit was a cover of The Beach Boys’ Don’t Worry Baby in 1977, but he continued to do well in the Country charts with songs such as New Looks from an Old Lover and Two Car Garage. He insisted on singing his old pop hits alongside gospel numbers at his concerts, leading to furious complaints, and even death threats, from the more devout members of his audience. Thomas did not readily identify as a Christian, however, having a low opinion of organised religion. He signalled a change of musical direction with (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, which won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1976 but had enough mainstream appeal to become his second US No 1.Īs well as devoting more of his time to Country music, he released a gospel album, Home Where I Belong, in 1976 it became the first Christian album to go platinum, as did its three successors, and led to his dominating the Christian charts for some years, winning four Grammies, for “inspirational” work. With the help of his wife, he eventually underwent a “spiritual awakening” and turned his life around.
(Presley and Thomas became friends, and the King often asked Thomas to sing Mama for him, as it conjured up memories of his late mother.)īy this stage, however, Thomas was addicted to alcohol, pills and cocaine. Little Green Apples, Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head, This Guys In Love With You. His other hits of the early 1970s included Everybody’s Out of Town, Rock and Roll Lullaby and I Just Can’t Help Believin’, which subsequently became part of Elvis Presley’s repertoire. Listen to Raindrops Keep Fallin On My Head by B.J. He went on to play a gunslinger in the Western Jory (1973) but decided thereafter to concentrate on music. (He was unable to sing live as a microphone was prohibited for safety reasons.) He was much less happy with a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which entered the annals of television’s most absurd moments: he was deluged with water throughout and reduced to mopping it from his eyes while trying to mime to the soundtrack. Raindrops carried off the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1970, with Thomas firing blanks from a six-shooter as he sang at the ceremony.
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