Thomas was raised in and around Houston, Texas, graduating from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. Before his solo career, he sang in a church choir as a teenager, then joined the musical group The Triumphs. During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s.
In 1966, B.J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). It featured a hit cover of the Hank Williams song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". The single sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up single, "Mama", peaked at No. 22. In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same name on the Scepter Records label.
Thomas came back to achieve mainstream success again in 1968, first with "The Eyes of a New York Woman", then five months later with the much bigger "Hooked on a Feeling", which featured the sound of Reggie Young's electric sitar and was first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records). "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas's second million-selling record. A year later Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Bacharach/David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. Sales of it also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same name. Other hits of the 1970s were "Everybody's Out of Town", "I Just Can't Help Believing" (No. 9 in 1970, covered by Elvis Presley), "No Love at All", "Mighty Clouds of Joy", and "Rock and Roll Lullaby".
Thomas's earlier hits were with Scepter Records, his label for six years. He left Scepter Records in 1972 and spent a short period, in 1973 and 1974, with Paramount Records, during which time he released two albums, Songs (1973) and Longhorns & Londonbridges (1974).
In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion on ABC Records, which had absorbed the Paramount label; it contained "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (the longest titled No. 1 hit ever on the Hot 100). It was Thomas's first big hit since 1972 and secured him his fourth gold record. It won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Country Song, awarded to its songwriters, Larry Butler and Chips Moman.
In 1976, Thomas released Home Where I Belong, produced by Chris Christian on Myrrh Records, the first of several gospel albums. It was the first Christian album to go platinum, and Thomas became the biggest contemporary Christian artist of the period.
On MCA Records, Thomas and Chris Christian recorded what would be his last Top 40 hit single, "Don't Worry Baby", on his last pop album, which also included the Adult Contemporary hit "Still the Lovin' Is Fun".
During the 1980s, his success on the pop charts began to wane, but many of his singles reached the upper regions on the country singles chart, including two 1983 chart toppers, "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover" (see 1984 in music), as well as "Two Car Garage", which reached No. 3. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Thomas scored another hit, recording "As Long As We Got Each Other", the theme to Growing Pains, with Jennifer Warnes. A later version, used for the show's fourth season, was recorded with British singer Dusty Springfield. Thomas first released this track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon (Columbia Records).
Thomas has also authored two books including the autobiography Home Where I Belong, and starred in the movies Jory and "Jake's Corner". Several commercial jingles including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Bell, have featured his singing voice and music. On December 31, 2011, Thomas was the featured halftime performer at the 2011 Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
On April 2, 2013, Thomas released The Living Room Sessions, an album with acoustic arrangements of well known hits. It features guest appearances with established and emerging vocalists accompanying Thomas on seven of twelve tracks.
On December 3, 2013, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced that his 1969 single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Thomas was married to singer-songwriter Gloria Richardson since December 1968. They had three daughters: Paige (born 1970), Nora (adopted from Korea in 1978), and Erin (born in 1979). Shortly after Thomas's career began, he became dependent on drugs and alcohol which led to his marriage nearly ending and himself even coming close to death. Gloria became a Christian in 1975, and less than a month later, so did B.J.; most press sources indicate that Thomas had been sober since their separation was reconciled in 1976.
I Just Can't Help Believin'
B.J. Thomas Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When she smiles up soft and gentle
With a trace of misty morning
And the promise of tomorrow in her eyes
I just can't help believin'
When she's lying close beside me
And my heart beats with the rhythm of her sighs
This time the girl is gonna stay
For more than just a day
Oh, I just can't help believin'
When she slips her hand in my hand
And it feels so small and helpless
As my fingers fold around it like a glove
I just can't help believin'
When she's whispering her magic
And her tears are shining honey sweet with love
This time the girl is gonna stay
This time the girl is gonna stay
For more than just a day
For more than just a day
The lyrics to B.J. Thomas's song "I Just Can't Help Believin'" are about a man who is deeply in love with a woman and cannot help but believe that their love will last. The lyrics describe the man's feelings and emotions towards his lover, particularly when she smiles, when she's lying close to him, when she slips her hand in his, and when she's whispering her magic. These moments create a sense of hope and promise for the future, and the man is convinced that their love will endure.
The song expresses the idea that love can be powerful and enduring, even in the face of uncertainty and doubt. The man is hopeful that his lover will stay with him for more than just a day, and he believes that their love will be enough to overcome any obstacles they may face. The repetition of the phrase "this time the girl is gonna stay" reinforces the theme of hope and belief in their love.
Overall, the lyrics to "I Just Can't Help Believin'" are a heartfelt expression of the power of love and the hope that it can bring. The song captures the emotions of a man who is deeply in love and believes that his love will last.
Line by Line Meaning
I just can't help believin'
I have no choice but to believe
When she smiles up soft and gentle
When she smiles tenderly
With a trace of misty morning
With a hint of morning mist
And the promise of tomorrow in her eyes
And with the hope for tomorrow in her eyes
When she's lying close beside me
When she's lying next to me
And my heart beats with the rhythm of her sighs
And my heart beats with the rhythm of her breathing
This time the girl is gonna stay
This time she's going to stay with me
This time the girl is gonna stay
This time she's going to stay with me
For more than just a day
For longer than just one day
When she slips her hand in my hand
When she puts her hand in mine
And it feels so small and helpless
And it feels fragile and vulnerable
As my fingers fold around it like a glove
As my fingers wrap around it like a glove
When she's whispering her magic
When she's whispering her enchantment
And her tears are shining honey sweet with love
And her tears are glowing with sweet love
This time the girl is gonna stay
This time she's going to stay with me
This time the girl is gonna stay
This time she's going to stay with me
For more than just a day
For longer than just one day
Lyrics Ā© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@TonyaDecaney
BJ Thomas is one best singers that ever lived. I always fell in love with everything I heard that he sang. So let me tell you when I laid eyes on him that was it for me,
I was obsessed!
What a handsome handsome man!
For some ladies it's Elvis he is a heart stopper.
But for me It's
BJ Thomas!
No disrespect to his wife and family . If he was a single man I would have tried to meet him.
God Rest his Soul.
Thank you BJ for all you gave us.
You are truly one of a kind. You are the crush of my life! With much Love Admiration and Sincerity .
Now and forever
Forgetting You
NEVER!!!āØāØāØāØāØāØššš©µš¤ā„ļø
@merriemisfit8406
I hear you. After a few days now, I hope you're getting along better.
Saturday morning my eyes just kept leaking tears, and I couldn't think of any reason for it. As I got ready to leave for work, I thought I should check the computer once I got there (there is none at my house) for any updates on how B.J. was doing. And so I did, and there were no updates.
Driving back home after work, I was still weeping for no reason I could think of, and I thought suddenly that maybe it was something that would require me to seek counseling.
I only listened to Canadian radio during the day and evening, both in French and English, and there was nothing about B.J. It was only when I woke up, from a nap at 2am to listen to the vintage radio programs floating in from KMOX in St. Louis that I heard that B.J. was gone.
Numb with the news, I' curled up in the recliner in the living room, pulled my comforter all the way up over my head, and drifted back to sleep, no longer interested in what Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were up to in March 1954 and not wanting to hear any more news. When I woke up an hour later and turned my head, a flood of tears ran down my face. It had just pooled around my eyes while I was asleep! I have never cried in my sleep before. I dozed off for another hour, and when I woke up from that, the same thing happened.
To continue making a short story long, around the end of last year, I guess, I'd brought out my autographed B.J. Thomas greatest hits album. It's been out in the living room every day since then. He'd written something so kind, that I was inspired to send an e-mail to his Web site, just noting that if anybody there saw fit to, they could let him know that somebody thanked him again for a more awesome autograph personalization than I could ever have imagined. The album was out when I started running across his Time-Life infomercials early this year, over and over again late at night. I'd always stick around to the end, for the pleasure of his pre-recorded company. He was on my mind so frequently, and then came the announcement that he was so very sick ...
Why, one day last week, I was standing on my porch, drenched with cold rain, and I began singing, well you know the song. But I didn't stop after the opening line. I kept singing through the whole song. The whole song. It just kept coming along, line by line, seemingly unstoppable, while the rain continued to pelt and I was only partly shielded by the roof. My way of wishing him farewell, I guess, and I didn't even realize it.
@traceyneeb9290
Whenever I hear his voice, I slow down, and remember a gentler time. Love his music and voice.
@jameshama
Hello Tracey how are you doing today
@Movingonup2
Me too. Heard this song last week at work and went and hid and sobbed deeply. ā¤
@kat35lulu88
Same....ā¤
@kgmail7364
I saw him in Chicago in 1979ish. He was singing āJesus is the answer for the world todayā¦ā Iāll never forget it.
@philiptucci2458
B.J. recorded some very beautiful Christian Hymns, he was a phenomenal singer
@kusmin69
HE NEEDED NO FANCY CLOTHES, FALSE ANYTHING, NAKED WOMEN DANCING IN THE BACKGROUND...
NOTHING BUT PURE TALENT!!!
R.I.P. ENTERTAINING THE ONE WHO CALL YOU HOME!!
@pedroballadares5253
Yes , BJ Thomas is singing beside those angels on heaven!šš¼
@rotax636nut5
and he could have had any of those things with just a snap f his fingers, the man is legend..
@crystalfreeman9295
When I heard the news this Sunday morning. I cried like a baby. I know that he had stage 4 Lung cancer. And that meant that it was fatel. But I just didn't want to see him go. I never met BJ Thomas but I loved him. And this world lost a amazing singer. He meant the world to me and l will miss him forever šššā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļø. To his family l am so sorry for your great loss. To BJ Thomas you are no longer in pain. God has you in his arms. May you and your beautiful voice fly higher than an eagle in heaven . I will always love you forever BJ Thomas. RIP my sweet angel šš.