B.J. Thomas was born Billy Joe Thomas in 1942 in Houston, Texas. As a young man, he sang in the church choir and then in his teenage years he joined The Triumphs, a group that released the album I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry in 1966. The album featured the hit singles “Mama” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and sold over a million copies. Shortly thereafter, B.J. Thomas released his solo album and struck out on his own.
Just a few years later, Thomas released the song “Hooked on a Feeling,” which would go on to become one of his iconic hits. The single “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” came next, earning B.J. Thomas an Academy Award after it was featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. By the early 1970’s, Thomas was on a rocket ride to stardom, releasing “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Everybody’s Out of Town,” and “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” For the remainder of the decade, B.J. enjoyed hit after hit, including “No Love at All” (1971), “Mighty Clouds of Joy” (1971), “That’s What Friends Are For” (1972), “Happier than the Morning Sun” (1973), “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” (1975), “Don’t Worry Baby” (1977), “Still the Lovin’ is Fun” (1978), “God Bless the Children” (1979), “What a Difference You’ve Made” (1979), and “From the Start” (1979.)
Although his popularity began to dissipate in the 1980’s, B.J. Thomas provided the theme song to the hit television show Growing Pains, and found himself with another hit, “As Long as We Got Each Other,” a duet with Jennifer Warnes. Other songs during this decade include: “Walkin’ On a Cloud” (1980), “Some Love Songs Never Die” (1981), “Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” (1983), “Two Car Garage” (1983), “ America Is” (1986), and “Don’t Leave Love (Out There All Alone)” (1989.)
Most recently, D.J. Thomas was seen as the halftime performer at the Hyundai Sun Bowl in 2011. In addition to his hit singles, D.J. Thomas has published his autobiography, Home Where I Belong.
