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. He was touring and recording constantly and taking dozens of pills a day. By 1976, while (Hey Won t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song was hitting No. 1, he felt like he was number 1,000. 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.
Dionne Warwick, who duetted with Thomas, sent out a tweet Saturday with her condolences.
“My sincere condolences to the family of one of my favorite duet partners, BJ Thomas. I will miss him as I know so many others will as well. Rest In Peace my friend,” she said.
Thomas signature recording was “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” a No. 1 pop hit and an Oscar winner for best original song as part of the soundtrack to one of the biggest movies of 1969, the irreverent Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Thomas wasn’t the first choice to perform the whimsical ballad composed by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; Ray Stevens turned the songwriters down. But his warm, soulful tenor fit the song’s easygoing mood, immortalized on film during the scene when Butch (Paul Newman) shows off his new bicycle to Etta Place (Katharine Ross), the girlfriend of the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford).