He was president of his own label, UK Records. He's the man who discovered Genesis, 10cc and the Bay City Rollers. Jonathan King is best remembered in the United States for his top 20 hit in 1965, "Everyone's Gone to the Moon." In Britain, he's remembered for a host of other reasons. 12 (above) and the 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack. "Hooked on a Feeling" has also been included on numerous '70s hit compilations, including Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 80 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart and remained on the chart for 17 weeks. 7 followup hit, "Never My Love." That album reached No. Thomas hit, "Hooked on a Feeling." The single was taken from Blue Swede's album of the same name, which also featured its U.S. No 1 hit in 1974 with a cover of the B.J. ![]() Swedish pop sextet Blue Swede scored its sole U.S. Almost three years later, the song received a startling new arrangement from British entrepreneur Jonathan King. It was January of 1969 when Thomas took the song to number five, his biggest success to that date. Thomas, who recorded it at the American Recording Studios in Memphis. It's always been an important part of my emotions.Ooked on a Feeling" was originally a hit for B.J. But I had that little piece of lightning from that song. "What a road block and heartbreak and times of failure these addictions have caused me. When you open yourself up to drugs and alcohol at such a young age it becomes something you have to deal with the rest of your life," he told the Huffington Post in 2014. "I was raised in a fairly dysfunctional situation and I went through years of intense alcoholism and drug addiction so the song was always a touchstone for me. He enjoyed Ernest Tubbs, Hank Williams and other country performers his parents liked, but on his own he was inspired by the soul and rhythm and blues singers he heard on the radio or saw on stage, notably Jackie Wilson, whose hit ballad "To Be Loved" Thomas later covered and adopted as a kind of guide to his life. By his teens, he was singing in church and had joined a local rock band, the Triumphs, whom he would stay with into his 20s. because so many Little League teammates also were named Billy Joe. Jenkins, later famous for the million-selling "Left Behind" religious novels written with Tim LaHaye.īesides music, Thomas loved baseball as a kid and started calling himself B.J. He and his wife worked on the 1982 memoir "In Tune: Finding How Good Life Can Be." His book "Home Where I Belong" came out in 1978 and was co-authored by Jerry B. Thomas married Richardson in 1968, and had three daughters: Paige, Nora and Erin. Thomas performs on stage at Loop Alive at the Chicago Theater in Chicago Illinois, February 14, 1982. He had planned to record in 2020 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but the sessions were delayed because of the pandemic. Recent recordings included "Living Room Music," featuring cameos from Lyle Lovett, Vince Gill and Richard Marx. ![]() 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.
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