Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head singer left deep mark on music world

WASHINGTON • American singer B.J. Thomas (photo), known for his popular song Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, has died at the age of 78, his agents announced.

His death last Saturday in Arlington, Texas, came after a lung cancer diagnosis.

Thomas won five Grammy Awards between 1977 and 1981, but first came to public attention in 1966 with his rendition of the Hank Williams country standard, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.

He followed it two years later with Hooked On A Feeling, which hit the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

But his greatest fame came with Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head, which was originally featured in the movie Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969) and spent four weeks at the top of the pop chart in 1970.

Written and produced by composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David, Raindrops - a cheery ditty about surmounting life's obstacles - won the Academy Award for best original song later that year.

Thomas' recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

He placed 15 singles in the pop Top 40 from 1966 to 1977. (Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song, a monument to heartache sung in a bruised, melodic baritone, reached No. 1 on both the country and pop charts in 1975.

"Few artistes have left a more indelible mark on America's musical landscape than B.J. Thomas," his agents said on his fan site. "With his smooth, rich voice and unerring song sense, Thomas' expansive career crossed multiple genres, including country, pop and gospel."

Thomas struggled with drug and alcohol dependence in the 1970s, but reached a turning point when he became an evangelical Christian in 1976, the agents said.

He turned to gospel music and his album Home Where I Belong, released that year, sold more than a million copies.

He continued to make albums and tour into the 2000s.

Thomas had revealed in March that he was suffering from an advanced form of lung cancer.

Near the end, he posted a statement to fans, saying: "All I am is just another guy. I've been very lucky. I've had a wonderful life."

He is survived by Gloria Richardson Thomas, his wife of 53 years; three daughters, Paige Thomas, Nora Cloud and Erin Moore; and four grandchildren.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, NYTIMES