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US singer BJ Thomas (archive picture from 2019): "Hooked On A Feeling" was one of his first big hits
Photo: Mark Reinstein / ZUMA Wire / imago images
It is very fortunate for every singer to be able to sing a song composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; for Billy Joe Thomas, or BJ for short, it wasn't just that, but the breakthrough to one of the most successful music careers of the 1970s. He sold around 70 million records, had numerous top 40 hits in the country and pop charts between 1966 and 1977 and won five Grammys. At the age of 78, BJ Thomas has now died of cancer, as his management announced on Twitter.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin 'On My Head", the song from the soundtrack of the western "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, became a world hit in the version of the US singer.
Bacharach and David, a songwriter duo in the style of old American songbook composers, were looking for a singer in 1969 for the song with the lively melody.
Bacharach thought of the title when he saw Paul Newman in a scene with his film partner Katharine Ross romping around carefree on his bike.
At first they wanted country star Ray Stevens to sing the song, but he didn't like the happy song at all.
Bob Dylan is said to have also been asked, but in the end BJ Thomas got the job, even though he was suffering from a sore throat at the time and his voice sounded a little more velvety than usual.
Soothing lard pop
Bacharach and David became aware of the singer through his top ten single "Hooked On A Feeling", which not only had a terrific pop hook, but, rarely at the time, also a sitar.
The Swedish rock band Blue Swede had one of their greatest hits with the song in 1974 by adding a whimsical "Ooga-chaka-ooga-ooga-chaka" to the intro.
He also appears in the soundtrack of the Marvel blockbuster "Guardians of the Galaxy," whose lead actor, played by Chris Pratt, has a great weakness for the AM and mainstream pop radio of the 1970s.
The seventies were BJ Thomas' heyday. With »Raindrops« Bachrach and David won an Oscar for the best movie song, Thomas landed eight number one hits and more than 25 top ten singles, including the country ballad »(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song ”, the Hank Williams cover“ I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry ”,“ Mighty Clouds of Joy ”or“ I Just Can't Help Believing ”, which was covered in 1970 by his idol Elvis Presley has been. After the death of the »King« in 1977, Thomas also sang at his funeral service.
Similar to Presley before, Thomas succeeded in his singing a gentle, flattering fusion of country, gospel, rock and R&B elements, a southern state sound that seemed made for the adult or older audience of pop radio at the time , for whom the loud, challenging rock and psychedelic experiments of the post-hippie generation with their protest against Vietnam and later Watergate were too exhausting.
In addition to Elvis, Thomas also counted the black R&B pioneers Little Richard and Jackie Wilson among his role models.
In the best case one found his often indulgent music uplifting and calming, in the worst case it was considered too cheesy and kitschy.
"I'm just some normal guy"
Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma in 1942 and grew up in Rosenberg, Texas, southwest of Houston. His parents were poor, his father an often violent alcoholic. As a teenager, Thomas began singing gospel at the local Baptist church that his family attended on Sundays. Together with his older brother he founded a band, played at dance evenings and sports festivals, until he hit his first hit with the Hank Williams cover in 1966.
But Thomas also became addicted to alcohol and drugs.
In the mid-1970s he decided to go into rehab and turned to his Christian faith, which gave him stability.
His later albums are therefore mainly characterized by country and spiritual music.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Thomas also appeared in sermons given by the well-known fundamentalist and TV priest Billy Graham.
At that time, Thomas had not had any major successes in the pop charts, but remained active and released albums, and went on tour.
In March of this year he made his lung cancer public and a little later said goodbye to his fans: "I ask you all for your prayers during this time - and that my music can continue to live with you." Now he died in his home in Arlington , Texas.
On Sunday, US country star Travis Tritt wrote on Twitter: “Such sad news.
I've had the privilege of building a friendship with BJ Thomas over the past few years - so I was able to tell him how much his music meant to me. "Rock singer Paul Stanley from Kiss also shared his grief:" When you heard BJ Thomas sing, he gave there is never any doubt who that was.
RIP. "
"I'm just any normal guy," Thomas had shown himself modestly in an interview a few years ago.
"I was very lucky and had a wonderful life." He leaves behind his wife Gloria, with whom he was married for 53 years - with one interruption in the early 1970s - as well as three daughters and four grandchildren.
And of course a catchy tune for the ages.
bor / dpa