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B.J. Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed success on the pop, country and gospel charts with such hits as “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling,” has died. He was 78.
Thomas, who announced in March that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, died from complications of the disease Saturday (May 29) at his home in Arlington, Texas, a statement released by his representatives said.
A Hugo, Oklahoma-native who grew up in Houston, Billy Joe Thomas broke through in 1966 with a gospel-styled cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and went on to sell millions of records and have dozens of hits across genres. He reached No. 1 with pop, adult contemporary and country listeners in 1976 with “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” The same year, his Home Where I Belong became one of the first gospel albums to be certified platinum for selling more than 1 million copies.
His signature recording was “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” a No. 1 pop hit and an Oscar winner for best original song as part of the soundtrack to one of the biggest movies of 1969, the irreverent Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Thomas wasn’t the first choice to perform the whimsical ballad composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; Ray Stevens turned the songwriters down. But his warm, soulful tenor fit the song’s easygoing mood, immortalized on film during the scene when Butch (Paul Newman) shows off his new bicycle to Etta Place (Katharine Ross), the girlfriend of the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford).
“Raindrops” has since been heard everywhere from The Simpsons to Forrest Gump and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013. But, at first, not everyone was satisfied. Thomas was recovering from laryngitis while recording the soundtrack version and his vocals are raspier than for the track released on its own. Redford, meanwhile, doubted the song even belonged in Butch Cassidy.
“When the film was released, I was highly critical — how did the song fit with the film? There was no rain,” Redford told USA Today in 2019. “At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. How wrong I was.”
Thomas would later say the phenomenon of “Raindrops” exacerbated an addiction to pills and alcohol which dated back to his teens, when a record producer in Houston suggested he take amphetamines to keep his energy up. He was touring and recording constantly and taking dozens of pills a day. By 1976, while “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” was hitting No. 1, he felt like he was “number 1,000.”
“I was at the bottom with my addictions and my problems,” he said in 2020 on The Debby Campbell Goodtime Show. He cited a “spiritual awakening,” shared with his wife, Gloria Richardson, with helping him to get clean.
Thomas had few pop hits after the mid-1970s, but he continued to score on the country charts with such No. 1 songs as “Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” and “New Looks from an Old Lover.” In the late 1970s and early ’80s, he was also a top gospel and inspirational singer, winning two Dove awards and five Grammys, including a Grammy in 1979 for best gospel performance for “The Lord’s Prayer.”
Fans of the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains heard him as the singer of the show’s theme song. He also acted in a handful of movies, including Jory and Jake’s Corner, and toured often. Recent recordings included The Living Room Sessions featuring cameos from Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill and Richard Marx. He had planned to record in 2020 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but the sessions were delayed because of the pandemic.
Thomas married Richardson in 1968, and had three daughters: Paige, Nora and Erin. He and his wife worked on the 1982 memoir In Tune: Finding How Good Life Can Be. His book Home Where I Belong came out in 1978 and was co-authored by Jerry B. Jenkins, later famous for the million-selling Left Behind religious novels written with Tim LaHaye.
Besides music, Thomas loved baseball as a kid and started calling himself B.J. because so many Little League teammates also were named Billy Joe. By his teens, he was singing in church and had joined a local rock band, the Triumphs, whom he would stay with into his 20s. He enjoyed Ernest Tubbs, Hank Williams and other country performers his parents liked, but on his own he was inspired by the soul and rhythm and blues singers he heard on the radio or saw on stage, notably Jackie Wilson, whose hit ballad “To Be Loved” Thomas later covered and adopted as a kind of guide to his life.
“I was raised in a fairly dysfunctional situation and I went through years of intense alcoholism and drug addiction so the song was always a touchstone for me. When you open yourself up to drugs and alcohol at such a young age it becomes something you have to deal with the rest of your life,” he told the Huffington Post in 2014.
“What a road block and heartbreak and times of failure these addictions have caused me. But I had that little piece of lightning from that song. That’s the essence of the whole thing. To love and be loved. And that takes a lifetime to accomplish. It’s always been an important part of my emotions.”
Following a battle with stage-four lung cancer, B.J. Thomas, whose musical career endured for over 50 years, died May 29 at his home in Arlington, Texas. He was 78.
Thomas was a chart force beginning in the 1960s. He logged 26 hits, including two No. 1s among five top 10s, on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1966 through 1983 and achieved No. 1 singles across the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Adult Contemporary charts. His 1969 classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” became his first leader on any Billboard survey, spending four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and seven frames atop Adult Contemporary.
Born in Hugo, Texas, and raised in Houston, Thomas also topped tallies with: “I Just Can’t Help Believing” (one week, Adult Contemporary, 1970); “Rock and Roll Lullaby” (one week, Adult Contemporary, 1972); “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (one week each on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Hot Country Songs, 1975); “Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love” (one week, Hot Country Songs, 1983) and “New Looks From an Old Lover” (one week, Hot Country Songs, 1983).
Thomas last sang a top 10 Billboard chart hit that was known to millions before it even became a single: “As Long as We Got Each Other,” credited to Steve Dorff & Friends, was sung by Thomas and fellow multi-decade pop star Dusty Springfield. Serving as the theme song to the hit ABC sitcom Growing Pains, it rose to No. 7 on Adult Contemporary in February 1989.
Thomas initially appeared on a Billboard chart when his version, with The Triumphs, of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” entered the Hot 100 dated Feb. 19, 1966. It reached No. 8 that April. He returned to the top 10 in January 1969 with the No. 5-peaking “Hooked on a Feeling,” later a No. 1 for Blue Swede in 1974. Thomas’ next top 10, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” became his first Hot 100 leader in January 1970.
B.J. Thomas’ Biggest Billboard Hits
Rank, Title, Artist, Hot 100 Peak Position, Year
1. “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” No. 1 (four weeks), 1970
2. (Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” No. 1 (one week), 1975
3. “Hooked on a Feeling,” No. 5, 1969
4. “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (with The Triumphs), No. 8, 1966
5. “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” No. 9, 1970
6. “Don’t Worry Baby,” No. 17, 1977
7. “Rock and Roll Lullaby,” No. 15, 1972
8. “No Love At All,” No. 16, 1971
9. “The Eyes of a New York Woman,” No. 28, 1968
10. “Everybody’s Out of Town,” No. 26, 1970
B.J. Thomas’ Biggest Billboard Hits recap is based on actual performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 chart. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.
Thomas scored his first success on Hot Country Songs in 1975 with his initial entry, “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” which led the list that May. In 1975-2000, he notched 16 Hot Country Songs appearances, including three No. 1s among five top 10s. Along with his additional No. 1s “Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love” and “New Looks From an Old Lover,” both in 1983, he reached the top 10 with “Two Car Garage” (No. 3) and “The Whole World’s in Love When You’re Lonely” (No. 10), both in 1984. He last visited the chart in 2000 with “You Call That a Mountain.”
Thomas also earned 10 entries on the Billboard 200 albums chart, led by the No. 12-peaking Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head in 1970.
Thomas posted his last Billboard chart appearance during his lifetime in 2013 when The Living Room Sessions hit No. 39 on Top Country Albums. The unplugged career retrospective includes collaborations with, among others, Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, Richard Marx and Keb’ Mo’.
Rachel approves! Mariah Carey got the thumbs up from Jennifer Aniston over the singer’s past attempt at recreating the hairstyle of the actress’ iconic Friends character.
On Friday (May 28), the 51-year-old superstar singer shared a throwback photo on Instagram of herself rocking wavy locks and a half ponytail similar to that of Aniston’s Rachel Greene in the 1990s sitcom.
“#FBF A sad attempt at the Rachel hairdo,” Mimi captioned the snapshot of herself on stage, adding the laughing-crying emoji and the hashtag #friends.
Aniston took notice of Carey’s post and left her seal of approval in the comments section. “LOVE IT,” the actress, 52, wrote alongside a flame emoji.
While Friends aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004, star Aniston made her character’s hairstyles popular. The most beloved ‘do was The Rachel, a layered shoulder-length look with plenty of body that perfectly framed the actress’s face; it became widely copied by fans.
Carey’s throwback post arrived just in time for the long-awaited Friends: The Reunion special on HBO Max, which aired Thursday. Hosted by James Corden, the special brought Friends stars Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, along with guest appearances by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and BTS.
Check out Carey’s Friends-inspired hairdo here.
Willow rocks out with Travis Barker in her new, official music video for “Transparent Soul.”
The Blink-182 drummer is part of Willow’s band onstage in a dark, grungy club in the clip that was released on Friday (May 28).
As they play the pop-punk song, a version of Willow winds her way through the crowd and runs into a mysterious (and terrifying) figure. In what she calls “one of my favorite parts of the music video,” Willow finds herself making an emotional connection with the figure when it follows her out of the club.
Willow’s angsty “Transparent Soul” is a departure from some of the Smith family singer’s earlier music releases, which date back to her breakthrough jam “Whip My Hair” in 2010. She recently said a full album will drop this summer with “a lot of collaborations.”
“I am so grateful for this tune because it was created in such an introspective time (during the first couple months of quarantine). It was the song that proved to me that I needed to let go of the insecurities I had about making a project of this genre,” she previously explained.
Watch the “Transparent Soul” music video below.
Nicki Minaj is giving fans a rare glimpse at her adorable baby.
In a sweet video posted on social media on Saturday (May 29), in which Minaj’s baby is seen being held in a standing position — perhaps getting ready to support himself and to eventually take a step on his own — the rapper talks lovingly to her little one.
Minaj captioned the clip with a teddy bear emoji. Keeping his real name private, in public she’s affectionately referred to him as “Papa Bear.”
She welcomed her son with husband Kenneth Petty in late September. In October she first shared a photo of a tiny baby foot, followed by a full picture featuring his cute face in January.
See the new baby video Minaj shared below.
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