![]() He complained that Christians “can’t seem to hear somebody sing – it’s always got to be some kind of Christian cliché or Bible song”. It topped the gospel chart, won a Grammy Award and resulted in the singer landing a $1m contract with MCA Records.Īlthough he found a new audience, he had a love-hate affair with gospel music. Thomas’s 1976 album, also titled Home Where I Belong, was credited with launching “Jesus Rock”. ![]() On arriving home in early 1976, his wife told him that she had embraced Christianity and introduced him to an evangelical rodeo worker who helped him to turn his life around. “She responded: ‘God must want you to accomplish more here in this world.’” “I remember asking the nurse why I was still alive,” Thomas wrote. In his autobiography, Home Where I Belong, he recounted waking up in hospital after one such occasion three years earlier. He was spending thousands of dollars on cocaine every day and overdosed several times. More concerning for Thomas at the time was a drug habit that became a threat to both his life and his relationship with Gloria (née Richardson), whom he married in 1968. ![]() Like the film, starring Newman and Robert Redford, the song won an Oscar, but Thomas’s single peaked at only 38 in Britain – after Sacha Distel’s cover version came out a month earlier and reached No 10. Released in late 1969, it became the first US No 1 single of the 1970s, keeping acts such as Diana Ross, The Jackson 5, Led Zeppelin and Elvis Presley off the top of the charts. No information on survivors or a memorial was immediately available.The voice was less husky when he returned to the studio two weeks later to lay down a new version for a single that retained the ukulele introduction and orchestra while dispensing with the trumpet instrumental. Thomas found the time to voice the theme song, “As Long As We’ve Got Each Other” for the TV series Growing Pains, and he also was heard on numerous commercials, including campaigns for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. On his 39th birthday in 1981, he also joined the Grand Ole Opry. It won the Grammy for Best Country Song in 1976 and was nominated for CMA Single of the Year. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs charts. His “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song was No. It won Thomas a Grammy and became the first of two Dove Award wins while also becoming the first gospel record to sell a million copies. But he returned as a Born Again Christian in gospel music, signing with Myrrh Records and releasing the album Home Where I Belong in 1976. ![]() The success wasn’t easy on Thomas, who fell into drug use. In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion on ABC Records, featuring “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” He signed to Paramount Records and released two albums-1973’s Songs and 1974’s Longhorns & Londonbridges. Thomas kept rolling with such pop/rock hits as “Everybody’s Out of Town,” “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “No Love at All” and “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” It has since reoccurred in such films as Forrest Gump, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Clerks II, and Spider-Man 2, as well as multiple TV shows. The song was featured in the Paul Newman/Robert Redford film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, earning the Oscar for Best Original Song. That led to a collaboration on “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” written by Bacharach and Hal David and sung by Thomas. In 1968, he released the million-selling “Hooked on a Feeling” from his album, On My Way.ĭionne Warwick met Thomas when he visited the Scepter offices in New York and introduced him to songwriter-producer Burt Bacharach. The follow-up single, “Mama,” and his first album came that same year. 8 on the pop charts and became his first million-selling single. Released by Scepter Records, it peaked at No. He joined the local band the Triumphs, and then in 1966 recorded “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” with producer Huey P. Other hits by the artist included “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Love,” and “New Looks From An Old Lover.”īorn in rural Hugo, Oklahoma as Billy Joe Thomas, he moved to Houston, Texas with his family and began singing in church as a child. Thomas was also named one of Billboard’s Top 50 Most-Played Artists Over The Past 50 Years. 1 smash “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” and the Top 5 hit, “Hooked on a Feeling.” His hits included a cover of the Hank Williams song “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” the Grammy winning No.
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