B. J. Thomas
Encyclopedia
Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas (born August 7, 1942, Hugo
Hugo, Oklahoma
Hugo is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma, bordering Texas. Hugo is the county seat for Choctaw County and has a population of 5,395 as of 2009 estimates. The city serves as winter quarters for some circus performers...

, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s—appearing on the pop, adult contemporary, country and Hot 100 charts.

Career

Thomas was raised in and around Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, graduating from Lamar Consolidated High School
Lamar Consolidated High School
Lamar Consolidated High School is a grades 9–12 school located in Rosenberg, Texas, United States.The school, which serves serves the City of Richmond, parts of Rosenberg, the City of Kendleton, a minuscule part of Sugar Land, and unincorporated sections of Fort Bend County, is a part of the Lamar...

 in Rosenberg
Rosenberg, Texas
Rosenberg is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Fort Bend County and is part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 31,676 at the 2010 census...

. Before his solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 career, Thomas sang in a church choir as a teenager then joined the musical group The Triumphs. During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head
Roy Head
Roy Head is an American singer, best known for his hit "Treat Her Right."-Career:Head achieved fame as a member of a musical group out from San Marcos, Texas known as The Traits. The group's sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio, Texas while they were...

 of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands
Battle of Bands is a contest in which two or more bands compete for the title of "best band". The winner is determined by a panel of judges, the general response of the audience, or a combination. The winning band usually receives a prize in addition to bragging rights. Traditionally, battles of...

 events in the early 1960s featuring Head and Thomas.

In 1966, B. J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). The album featured a hit cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the Hank Williams song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard...

". It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

. In the same year, Thomas released a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 of the same name (Scepter Records
Scepter Records
Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...

).

Thomas achieved mainstream success again in 1968, with the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 "Hooked on a Feeling
Hooked on a Feeling
"Hooked on a Feeling" is a 1968 pop song written by Mark James and originally performed by B. J. Thomas. Featuring the sound of the electric sitar, the song reached number five in 1969 on the Billboard Hot 100.-History:...

", which featured the sound of an electric sitar
Electric sitar
An electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...

, first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records). "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas's second million-selling record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

. The 1969 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 American Western film directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman...

featured Thomas performing the Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

/Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...

 song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is B. J. Thomas's #1 song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. It was recorded in seven takes, after...

", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year, became the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in January 1970. Sales of this disc also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same name. Other hits of the 1970s were "Everybody's Out of Town", "I Just Can't Help Believing" (Billboard No. 9 in 1970, covered by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

), "No Love At All", "Mighty Clouds of Joy", and "Rock and Roll Lullaby".

Thomas' earlier hits were with Scepter Records, with which he was associated for six years. He left Scepter Records in 1972 and spent a short period, in 1973 and 1974, with Paramount Records
Paramount Records (1969)
Paramount Records was a record label started in 1969 by Paramount Pictures after acquiring the rights to the name from George H. Buck. The previous label with the same name had been unconnected to Paramount Pictures. The new Paramount label reissued pop releases by sister label Dot Records, which...

, during which time he released two albums, Songs (1973) and Longhorns & London Bridges (1974).

In 1975 Thomas released the album Reunion (ABC Records
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....

, which had absorbed the Paramount label), which contained "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
" Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" is an American country and pop song made famous by B.J. Thomas.The song became Thomas' second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1975. In addition, it ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart three weeks after...

" (the longest titled No. 1 hit ever on the Hot 100). It was Thomas' first big hit since 1970 and secured him his fourth gold record. On ABC he also charted with "Songs" and "Don’t Worry Baby".

In 1976 Thomas released Home Where I Belong on Myrrh Records
Myrrh Records
Myrrh Records, also known as Myrrh Worship, is a Christian music record label. According to Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music, the label was instrumental in developing a popular following for Contemporary Christian music as the label that first published music by Barry McGuire, 2nd Chapter of...

, the first of several gospel albums to be recorded by Thomas. The album went platinum, and Thomas became the biggest contemporary Christian artist of the period.

During the 1980s, his success on the pop charts began to wane, but many of his singles reached the upper regions on the country singles charts, including two 1983 chart toppers, "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love
Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love
"Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" is a 1983 single written by Lewis Anderson and recorded by B.J. Thomas. "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" was the second of three number ones on the country chart. It would his first number one since, " Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"...

" and "New Looks from an Old Lover
New Looks from an Old Lover
"New Looks From An Old Lover" is a 1983 single by B.J. Thomas. "New Looks From An Old Lover" was B.J. Thomas' third and last number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of thirteen weeks on the country chart ....

" (see 1984 in music
1984 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Janury-March:*January 21 – "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite being banned by the BBC; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40.*January 27 – Michael Jackson's...

), as well as "Two Car Garage
Two Car Garage
"Two Car Garage" is a single by American country music artist B. J. Thomas. Released in 1983, it was the first single from his album The Great American Dream. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in February 1984 and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.-Chart...

", which reached No. 3 on the country singles chart. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...

.

Thomas scored another hit, recording "As Long As We Got Each Other," the theme to Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Growing Pains is an American television sitcom about an affluent family, residing in Huntington, New York, with a working mother and a stay-at-home psychiatrist father raising three children together, which aired on ABC from September 24, 1985 to April 25, 1992.-Synopsis:The show's premise is based...

with Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Warnes
Jennifer Jean Warnes is an American singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer. She is known for her interpretations of compositions written by herself and many others, as well as an extensive playlist as a vocalist on movie soundtracks.Between 1979 and 1987 Warnes surpassed Frank Sinatra as...

. A later version, used for the show's fourth season, was recorded with the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 singer Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

. Thomas first released this track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon (Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

).

Thomas has also authored two books including the autobiography Home Where I Belong, and starred in the movie Jory. Several commercial jingles, to include Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

, Pepsi
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

, and Bell phone systems, have featured his singing voice
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...

 and music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

.

Albums

Year Album Chart Positions Label
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

US Country CAN
1966 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry Scepter Records
Scepter Records
Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...

Tomorrow Never Comes
1968 On My Way 133
1969 Young and in Love
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head 12 10
1970 Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 90
Everybody's Out of Town 72 71
Most of All 67 44
1971 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 92
1972 B. J. Thomas Country 209
Billy Joe Thomas 145
Rock'n'Roll Lullaby
1973 Songs 221 Paramount
1974 Longhorns & Londonbridges
Longhorns & Londonbridges
Longhorns & Londonbridges is a 1974 album by B.J. Thomas, released on Paramount Records, during the time when rights to the Paramount Records name were owned by Paramount Pictures...

1975 Reunion 59 2 40 ABC
Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair) 26
1977 B. J. Thomas 114 39 MCA
Home Where I Belong Myrrh
1979 Happy Man
You Gave Me Love (When Nobody Gave Me a Prayer) Word
1980 The Best Of B.J. Thomas Myrrh
In Concert MCA
1981 Amazing Grace Word
Some Love Songs Never Die MCA
1982 Peace in the Valley Word
1983 Love Shines Epic
New Looks 193 13 Columbia
The Great American Dream 27
1984 ShiningA 40
1985 Throwin' Rocks at the Moon
You Gave Me Love Myrrh
1986 Night Life Columbia
All Is Calm, All Is Bright
1987 Hey Won't You Play Another
Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
MCA
1989 Midnight Minute Reprise
1991 As We Knew Him MCA
Jesus Hearted People
1992 Rock Against the Wall Reprise
Rock & Roll Lullaby Trace
1994 Still Standing Here Laurie
1995 Precious Memories Warner Bros.
Scenes of Christmas Cross Three
1996 B. J. Thomas Sings Hank Williams and Other Favorites Buckboard
1997 I Believe Warner Bros.
Christmas Is Coming Home Warner Resound
1998 Sounds of Christmas Kardina
2000 You Call That a Mountain
2005 That Christmas Feeling Madacy
2006 We Praise: Glorify Thy Name Braun Media
We Praise: Just as I Am
2007 Home for Christmas Lifestyles
  • AShining also peaked at No. 17 on the RPM
    RPM (magazine)
    RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

    Country Albums chart in Canada.

Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

CAN AC CAN CAN Country
1966 "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard...

"
8 2 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
"Mama" 22 12 -
"Billy and Sue" 34 23 - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
"Bring Back the Time" 75 53 I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
"Tomorrow Never Comes" 80 89 Tomorrow Never Comes
"Plain Jane" 129 - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
1967 "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" 94 - Greatest Hits, Volume 1
1968 "The Eyes of a New York Woman" 28 29 On My Way
"Hooked on a Feeling
Hooked on a Feeling
"Hooked on a Feeling" is a 1968 pop song written by Mark James and originally performed by B. J. Thomas. Featuring the sound of the electric sitar, the song reached number five in 1969 on the Billboard Hot 100.-History:...

"
5 3
1969 "It's Only Love" 37 45 24 Young and in Love
"Pass the Apple Eve" 97 78
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is B. J. Thomas's #1 song, written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. David and Bacharach also won Best Original Score. It was recorded in seven takes, after...

"
1 1 1 1 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
1970 "Everybody's Out of Town" 3 26 18 Everybody's Out of Town
"I Just Can't Help Believing" 1 9 18
"Most of All" 2 38 13 20 Most of All
1971 "No Love at All" 4 16 12 16
"Mighty Clouds of Joy" 8 34 25 26 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
"Long Ago Tomorrow" 13 61 57
1972 "Rock and Roll Lullaby
Rock and Roll Lullaby (song)
"Rock and Roll Lullaby" is song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil that was a 1972 hit single performed by B. J. Thomas. The single's backup vocals were performed by The Blossoms and Dave Somerville with Duane Eddy playing lead guitar...

"
1 15 8 7 Billy Joe Thomas
"That's What Friends Are For" 38 74
"Happier Than the Morning Sun" 31 100
1973 "Songs" 41 Songs
1975 "(Hey Won't You Play) Another
Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song
" Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" is an American country and pop song made famous by B.J. Thomas.The song became Thomas' second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1975. In addition, it ascended to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart three weeks after...

"
1 1 1 1 3 2 Reunion
"Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair)" 5 64 37 9 67 Help Me Make It (To My Rockin' Chair)
1977 "Home Where I Belong" 98 Home Where I Belong
"Don't Worry Baby
Don't Worry Baby
"Don’t Worry Baby" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian, produced by Wilson and first recorded by the Beach Boys. The band's version, a tender ballad with falsetto lead vocal by Brian, was first released on their 1964 album Shut Down Volume 2. It was also released as the B-side of...

"
2 17 1 12 B. J. Thomas
"Still the Lovin' Is Fun" 8 77 13 86
1978 "Everybody Loves a Rain Song" 2 43 25 11 43 34 Singles only
1979 "We Could Have Been the Closest of Friends" 86
"God Bless the Children" 38
1980 "Walkin' On a Cloud" 30
1981 "Some Love Songs Never Die" 34 27 Some Love Songs Never Die
"I Recall a Gypsy Woman
I Recall a Gypsy Woman
"I Recall a Gypsy Woman" is song written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds, and originally recorded by Don Williams in 1973. In 1976, his version charted at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was previously the b-side of Williams' 1973 single "Atta Way to Go", which peaked at number 13 on...

"
22 47
1982 "But Love Me" 27 Single only
1983 "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love
Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love
"Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" is a 1983 single written by Lewis Anderson and recorded by B.J. Thomas. "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" was the second of three number ones on the country chart. It would his first number one since, " Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"...

"
13 93 1 1 New Looks
"New Looks from an Old Lover
New Looks from an Old Lover
"New Looks From An Old Lover" is a 1983 single by B.J. Thomas. "New Looks From An Old Lover" was B.J. Thomas' third and last number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of thirteen weeks on the country chart ....

"
1 6
"Two Car Garage
Two Car Garage
"Two Car Garage" is a single by American country music artist B. J. Thomas. Released in 1983, it was the first single from his album The Great American Dream. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in February 1984 and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.-Chart...

"
44 3 1 The Great American Dream
1984 "The Whole World's in Love When You're Lonely" 10 15 Shining
"The Girl Most Likely To" 17 5
1985 "The Part of Me That Needs You Most" 61 57 Throwin' Rocks at the Moon
1986 "America Is" 62
"Night Life" 59 Night Life
1988 "As Long As We Got Each Other" (with Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...

)
7 Midnight Minute
1989 "Don't Leave Me Love (Out There All Alone)" 39 Single only
2000 "You Call That a Mountain" 66 You Call That a Mountain

Guest singles

Year Artist Single Chart Positions Album
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

CAN Country
1984 "Rock and Roll Shoes" Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

14 15 Friendship
Friendship (Ray Charles album)
-Chart performance:...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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