Song:Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head
Album:Greatest Hits
Billy Joe "B.J." Thomas had his biggest success with the 1969 smash hit Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head from the hit film Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. Thomas had another number one hit and a total of five top ten hits in the 60s and 70s. He was born Aug. 7, 1942 in Hugo, OK and grew up singing in church in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg, TX. As lead singer of The Triumphs, Thomas toured Texas with Roy Head. In 1966, The Triumphs released a cover of Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry on Pacemaker Records. When the song started getting radio airplay, the small label sold Thomas' contract to the much larger Scepter Records. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then Thomas reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 with Hooked On A Feeling. Burt Bacharach composed the score for the 1969 film Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and he wrote Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head with longtime partner Hal David. First they offered it to Ray Stevens. He turned it down but I guess he recommended Thomas. The film grossed over $100M and was the biggest film of the year. Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head topped the Billboard Hot 100 and even won a Best Original Song Oscar. Of course it didn't last for Thomas and he left Scepter for Paramount in 1972. When Paramount was absorbed by ABC in 1975, Thomas remained and had his other number one hit with (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song in 1975. When MCA bought ABC, he continued to record there and also recorded Christian music for Word's Myrrh label. In the 80s, Thomas had success on the Country charts recording for Columbia. Since then, he has recorded occasionally and has his own theater in Branson. I recommend this 1990 Rhino comp because it's the only one that has all of Thomas' hits. The others have the Scepter hits but not his hit on ABC. Normally I would post a B.J. Thomas performance clip. But the one from The Ed Sullivan Show is really cheesy. And I think most fans first heard Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head in the film Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. So here's the bicycle scene from that film featuring Paul Newman and Katharine Ross and Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head by B.J. Thomas.
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