B.J. Thomas

B.J. Thomas (1942–2021) was an American singer who grew up in the Houston, Texas area and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s with a gold-certified cover of «I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry». Over the following decade he became a major country-pop crossover star, blending soft rock, country, and pop into an accessible, radio-friendly sound anchored by his warm, expressive tenor voice.

His signature hit, the Oscar-winning «Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head» — written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — topped the charts and became one of the defining pop songs of its era. Thomas followed it with other crossover successes such as «Hooked on a Feeling» and «(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song», the latter a country chart-topper that also crossed to pop audiences, cementing his reputation as one of the era's most versatile hitmakers.

In 1976, Thomas shifted his focus to gospel and inspirational music, recording several acclaimed albums in that genre and winning multiple Grammy Awards for his work. He continued to record across pop, country, and gospel for the rest of his career, and his best-known recordings remain staples of American easy-listening and adult-contemporary radio.