The Death of B.J. Thomas – Recalls memories of a night in Bensalem

The Death of B. J. Thomas

Recalls memories of a night in Bensalem

By Jack Coll

6-7-2021

     I was saddened to hear about the passing of Billy Joe Thomas on May 29, 2021, the Texas born singer was 78 years old and died from lung cancer. Better known as B. J. Thomas he charted songs for more than a decade from the mid 1960’s thru the mid 1970’s.

     In 1966 I was a 13 year old self-taught guitar player who had a transistor radio taped to my ear with station WIBG permanently tuned in with the volume on high when I first heard B. J. Thomas sing the old Hank Williams tune “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”  But the Thomas song that permanently hooked me on his music was “Hooked On A Feeling” released in 1968.  The song featured the sound of Reggie Young’s electric sitar and for a young guitar player who had saved his paper route money to purchase a blue electric Sears guitar I loved playing that opening sitar solo a thousand times on my guitar acting as though I was Bob Dylan.

     Thomas had other successful songs like “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,” “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” “Rock and Roll Lullaby,” and “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”    

     Back in 2006 Bob Frost and I were on our never ending tour to see any and all bands and performers that happened to wander into the tri-state area.  Frost called me and informed me that B. J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royal would be performing at the Bensalem Summer Concert series.

     I was familiar with both performers, we know all about B. J. Thomas and I also was fond of Billy Joe Royal.  Back in the mid 1960’s Royal hit the charts with a song called “Down In The Boondocks” followed a month or two later with a song called “I Knew You When.”  I didn’t know until years later that a guy by the name of Joe South, who had his own hit with the song “Games People Play” was a good friend of Royal’s and wrote and produced the hits “Down In The Boondocks,” “I Knew You When” and “I Got To Be Somebody.”  Royal also hit the pop charts in 1969 with the hit “Cherry Hill Park.”  His last charted hit on the top Billboard chart came in 1978 with the remake of “Under The Boardwalk,” he later had a few minor hits on the Country Charts reaching into the 1990’s.

     Billy Joe Royal died in October of 2015 at the age of 73.

     So back in the summer of 2006 Bob Frost and myself along with our wives Joann and Donna traveled up the Pennsylvania turnpike to Bensalem for an evening of music featuring the two Billy Joe’s.  As I recall it was a beautiful evening as we stretched our lawn chairs out in front of the stage of the outdoor venue where B. J. Thomas and Billy Joe Royal put on a beautiful evening of music that included all their hits and then some.

     Following the show Frost and I wandered backstage to meet and chat with the two performers who were extremely pleasant and happy to talk to us.  We parted ways as the two prepared for the next stop on their tour and the four of us made a quick stop at Park’s Casino before returning to Conshohocken.

     Bob and I were thrilled to have seen and met Thomas and Royal, it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening.  So here’s to you two guys who may be gone but not forgotten, Thanks for the memories.

Photographs Above include:

Bob Frost and I backstage with B. J. Thomas on the far left and Billy Joe Royal on the far right.

A photograph of B. J. Thomas

A photograph of Billy Joe Royal

A photo of both performers