Since the mid-1960s, B.J. Thomas has become one of the most recognized and respected voices of the American musical landscape. He has impacted many areas of popular music with 15 Top 40 pop hits, 10 Top 40 country hits, 5 Grammys, 2 Dove Awards and 15 Gold and Platinum Records.

Billy Joe Thomas, nick-named B.J. by his baseball coach at age 10, was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, and grew up in Houston, Texas. He moved with his family to Rosenberg, Texas at age 15 where he sang in his high school and church choirs. As a teenager, he developed a passion for R&B and was soon sneaking into nightclubs to hear blues legend Bobby "Blue" Bland. While still 15, he joined a local Houston rock band, the Triumphs. With influences ranging from Ernest Tubb to Jackie Wilson, B.J. became more and more popular as lead singer for the band. The Triumphs became one of the biggest acts in Texas, opening at the Houston Coliseum for headliners like Roy Orbison, the Dave Clark Five and the Four Tops.

The Triumphs first album was recorded in Beaumont, releasing several well-received local singles. In 1965 the band set out to record an album of vintage rock and roll. When they needed one song to finish the project, B.J. recalled his father saying, "Don't come back unless you record something country." With that in mind, B.J. suggested Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The recording became a regional hit in Southeast Texas with the help of local DJs. However, when the album was leased to New York's Scepter Records, it went to number four on the national pop charts and sold more than a million copies.

By 1968, B.J. was on his own and had recorded four gold records: "The Eyes of a New York Woman," "Hooked on a Feeling," "It's Only Love" and "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." The latter, was a Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune written for the motion picture Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The song was a first million-seller for the songwriting team and that same year won an Academy Award for Song of the Year after B.J.'s performance at the ceremony.

In 1976, B.J. released the first of several gospel albums, Home Where I Belong, which went platinum. Moving back to country music, B.J. hit the Top 40 ten times with hits like "What Ever Happened to Old Fashioned Love," "New Looks From an Old Lover" and "The Whole World's in Love When You're Lonely." His country success led him to become the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry on his 40th birthday. In 1989 B.J. recorded "As Long As We Got Each Other," the theme song for the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.

As the tours and records keep coming, B.J. Thomas maintains his reputation as a singer. His music is testimony to the fact that he is a survivor, overcoming personal adversity and addiction as well as weathering professional storms to emerge musically stronger than ever.

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