He followed that success with "Help Me Make It To My Rockin' Chair", a moderate Pop hit. "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", his first single for ABC, became his second number one record on the Pop charts in 1975, as well as establishing a Country career. At Paramount, Thomas had no hits, prompting the singer to pursue a new Country-Pop direction at ABC Records. Throughout the period he sold tens of millions of records and appeared regularly on TV programs like The Ed Sullivan Show and in top nightclubs and concert halls.Īfter "Rock and Roll Lullaby", Scepter Records went out of business and B.J. It was followed by a string of Soft-Rock hits in the next two years, including "Everybody's Out of Town" (#26 in 1970), "I Just Can't Help Believing" (#9 in 1970), "Most Of All" (#38 in 1971) "No Love at All" (#16 in 1971) "Mighty Clouds Of Joy" (#34 in 1971) and "Rock and Roll Lullaby" (#15 in 1972), which featured guitarist Duane Eddy and The Beach Boys. sang the song on the 1970 Academy Awards telecast. says, "and probably got their best song ever." "Raindrops" was Bacharach / David's first million-seller. "I was in the right place at the right time," B.J. Label mate Dionne Warwick, who'd been working with the Burt Bacharach / Hal David songwriting team, recommended him for "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", which was written for the motion picture Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. "Hooked on a Feeling" became a million seller, rising to number five on the nation's music charts. jumped at the chance while the rest of The Triumphs decided not to go, and Thomas split from the group.Īlthough he had a series of moderate follow-up hits, including a re-release of "Billy and Sue" (#34 in 1966), "Mama" (#22 in 1966) and "The Eyes Of A New York Woman" (#28 in 1968), Thomas failed to re-enter the Top Ten until 1968, when he found a song that could really show off his powerful voice. With an invitation to join Dick Clark's Caravan Of Stars tour, B.J. Released by Scepter Records in early 1966, the single became an immediate hit, catapulting to #8 on the Billboard Pop chart. enjoyed his first real taste of success when he recorded the Hank Williams' standard "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" with producer Huey P. For the group's last single, Thomas and fellow Triumph member Mark Charron wrote "Billy and Sue", which again failed to gain national attention. In his teens he joined the Houston-based band The Triumphs, who released a number of independent singles that did well on a local basis. Thomas began singing while he was a child, performing in church. Along the way, his has become one of the most recognized and respected voices of his generation. He has scored chart-toppers on the Pop, Country, Gospel and Adult Contemporary charts. Since the mid-1960s, when he became one of the most successful artists on the American musical landscape, he has recorded an incredible string of successes with fifteen Top 40 Pop hits, ten Top 40 Country hits, five Grammys, two Dove awards, two Platinum and eleven Gold records. At the beginning of his career, he leaned more heavily on Rock 'n' Roll, but by the mid-'70s, he had turned to Country music, becoming one of the most successful Country/Pop stars of the decade. During his long career he has straddled the line between Pop/Rock and Country, achieving success in both genres in the late '60s and '70s. Billy Joe Thomas was born on August 7th 1942 in Hugo, Oklahoma.
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