Billy Joe Thomas was an American singer widely referred to as B. J. Thomas for his pop, country, and Christian hits of the 1960s and 1970s. He made popular recordings of “Hooked on a Feeling”, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” and ” Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”.
B. J. Thomas Family and Parents
Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on August 7, 1942. He grew up in and around Houston, Texas, graduating from Lamar Consolidated highschool in Rosenberg.
Before his solo career, he sang during a church choir as an adolescent , then joined the musical organization The Triumphs with Tim Griffith (lead guitar), Tom Griffith (bass), Denver “Zeke” Zatyka (keyboards), Don Drachenberg (vocal and sax), and Ted Mensik (drums). During his senior year, he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and therefore the Traits. The Traits and therefore the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events within the early 1960s.
B. J. Thomas Wife Gloria Richardson
Thomas was married to singer-songwriter Gloria Richardson since December 1968.They have three daughters: Paige (born 1970), Nora (adopted from North Korea in 1978), and Erin (born in 1979). Shortly after Thomas’s career began, he became hooked in to drugs and alcohol, which led to his marriage nearly ending. On January 28, 1976, Thomas became a Christian,less than a month after Gloria did. Most press sources indicated that Thomas had been sober since he and Gloria reconciled in 1976.
B. J. Thomas Net Worth
B. J. Thomas Net Worth had a Net Worth of $5 Million at the time of his DeathB. J. Thomas was an American singer widely known for his pop, country, and Christian hits.
Professiona Career
Thomas and therefore the Triumphs released the album I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry . It featured successful cover of the Williams song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. the only sold over a million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up single, “Mama”, peaked at number 22. within the same year, Thomas released a solo album of an equivalent title on the Scepter Records label.
Thomas came back to realize mainstream success again in 1968, first with “The Eyes of a replacement York Woman”, then five months later with the much bigger “Hooked on a Feeling”, which featured the sound of Reggie Young’s electric sitar and was first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records).
“Hooked on a Feeling” became Thomas’s second million-selling record.A year later, Butch Cassidy and therefore the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Bacharach/David song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, which won the Academy Award for best original song that year and hit favorite on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970.
In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion on ABC Records, which had absorbed the Paramount label; it contained “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (the longest titled No. 1 hit ever on the recent 100). it had been Thomas’s first big hit since 1972 and secured him his fourth gold record.
On MCA Records, Thomas and Chris Christian recorded what would be his last Top 40 hit single, “Don’t Worry Baby”, on his last pop album, which also included the Adult Contemporary hit “Still the Lovin’ Is Fun”.
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 chart, including two 1983 chart toppers, “Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” and “New Looks from an Old Lover” (see 1984 in music), also as “Two Car Garage”, which reached number three on the country charts. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Thomas scored another hit, recording “As Long as We Got Each Other”, the theme to the tv series Growing Pains. The first-season theme was a solo for Thomas, but was re-recorded as a duet with Jennifer Warnes for the second and third seasons. it had been re-recorded again for the show’s fourth season with British singer Dusty Springfield, but the Thomas/Warnes version was reinstated for season five and a few of season seven. Thomas first released this track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon.
