He also acted in a handful of movies, including 'Jory' and 'Jake's Corner' and toured often. 1 songs as 'Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love' and 'New Looks from an Old Lover.' In the late 1970s and early '80s, he was also a top gospel and inspirational singer, winning two Dove awards and five Grammys, including a Grammy in 1979 for best gospel performance for 'The Lord's Prayer.'įans of the 1980s sitcom 'Growing Pains' heard him as the singer of the show's theme song. Thomas had few pop hits after the mid-1970s, but he continued to score on the country charts with such No. 'I was at the bottom with my addictions and my problems,' he said in 2020 on 'The Debby Campbell Goodtime Show.' He cited a 'spiritual awakening,' shared with his wife, Gloria Richardson, with helping him to get clean. By 1976, while ″(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song' was hitting No. He was touring and recording constantly and taking dozens of pills a day. Thomas would later say the phenomenon of 'Raindrops' exacerbated an addiction to pills and alcohol which dated back to his teens, when a record producer in Houston suggested he take amphetamines to keep his energy up. Thomas performs during 'City Winery Presents A Celebration of the Music of Jimmy Webb' at Carnegie Hall on in New York City. 'At the time, it seemed like a dumb idea. 'When the film was released, I was highly critical - how did the song fit with the film? There was no rain,' Redford told USA Today in 2019. Redford, meanwhile, doubted the song even belonged in 'Butch Cassidy.' Thomas was recovering from laryngitis while recording the soundtrack version and his vocals are raspier than for the track released on its own. But, at first, not everyone was satisfied. 'Raindrops' has since been heard everywhere from 'The Simpsons' to 'Forrest Gump' and was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.

1 with pop, adult contemporary and country listeners in 1976 with ″(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.' The same year, his 'Home Where I Belong' became one of the first gospel albums to be certified platinum for selling more than 1 million copies. Thomas, who announced in March that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, died from complications of the disease Saturday at his home in Arlington, Texas, his publicist Jeremy Westby said in a statement.Ī Hugo, Oklahoma-native who grew up in Houston, Billy Joe Thomas broke through in 1966 with a gospel-styled cover of Hank Williams' 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' and went on to sell millions of records and have dozens of hits across genres. Thomas, the Grammy-winning singer who enjoyed success on the pop, country and gospel charts with such hits as 'I Just Can't Help Believing,' 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head' and 'Hooked on a Feeling,' has died.

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