BJ Thomas, a pop and country singer most famous for the Oscar-winning song, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", has passed away today at the age of seventy-eight. Thomas had been diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer earlier this year in March.
Born Billy Joe Thomas in Hugo, OK, he grew up in and around Houston, TX. He began singing in his church choir as a teen before joining a country group, The Triumphs. In 1966, the band signed with Pacemaker Records and had a big hit with a cover of Hank Williams' song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry".
Thomas later signed with Scepter Records as a solo artist and released his debut, "On My Way" in 1968. The album was a moderate success, featuring the singles, "The Eyes of a New York Woman" and "Hooked On a Feeling" which reached number five on the pop charts (although the Swedish band, Blue Swede's 1974 version would become better known).
The following year, Thomas was approached by Burt Bacharach and Hal David to record a song they had written for the film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" would stay at number one on the US pop charts for four weeks, seven weeks atop the adult contemporary chart and Billboard ranked it the number four song of 1970. Thomas would have another number one hit in 1975 with "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song".
After this hit, the singer turned to recording contemporary Christian music with the 1976 album, "Home Where I Belong" which went on to sell over a million copies. During the 1980's, Thomas began to perform country music, releasing several albums and had two number one singles on the country charts with "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover". And you might recognize his voice on the theme song for the television sitcom, "Growing Pains" with the song, "As Long as We Got Each Other" which was done solo and as duets with Jennifer Warnes and Dusty Springfield (!).
The newest single from the British rock group, Coldplay is "Higher Power". The band, made up of lead guitarist, Jonny Buckland, bassist, Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and vocalist and pianist, Chris Martin, teamed-up with the renowned Swedish producer of pop, Max Martin to work with them on the track. And while the song might seem to have a religious angle, "Higher Power" was actually inspired by intergalactic ideas involving astronauts and the possibilities of life outside of our planet. The music video features hologram aliens dancing along with the band and was first transmitted to astronaut, Thomas Pesquet aboard the International Space Station to view before anyone on Earth. "Higher Power" is the first release from Coldplay's upcoming ninth studio album with no title or release date available at this time.
NICKI MINAJ
Nicki Minaj released her third mixtape, "Beam Me Up Scotty" in 2009, becoming a game changer for the aspiring hip-hop performer. After deciding she was spending more time on her image than her music, Minaj went to work to change that, focusing on the songs and enlisting guest appearances from some big names in the game: Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane and Drake to name just a few. And this plan worked out quite well for the artist, receiving critical acclaim and a song, "I Get Crazy" reaching the top-forty on the Hip-Hop and R&B charts. Minaj's debut album, "Pink Friday" soon followed and the rest is history.
Now to celebrate this breakthrough, "Beam Me Up Scotty" has been re-released, rearranged and contains three new tracks. Two of those songs, "Seeing Green" (which uses a sample of Heather Headley's "In My Mind" and features Lil Wayne and Drake) and "Fractions" have been getting some play.
P!NK
One musical artist who defies categorization is P!nk. The now forty-one year old performer has been making music since 2000, beginning with her successful R&B-influenced pop debut album, "Can't Take Me Home". After pushing back against her label trying to mold her in the image of a "pop princess" and wanting to take creative control of her sound, she teamed-up with 4 Non Blondes singer, Linda Perry and released the pop-rock follow-up, "Missundaztood" which made her a star on her own terms. Since then P!nk has covered alt-rock, folk and country with her distinctive soulful and gritty voice.
P!nk recently received the 2021 Billboard Music Award for Top Touring Artist and performed live on the show a brief concert of a few of her hits. The singer has just released a new backstage concert documentary, "All I Know So Far" from her 2019 tour of Europe. And there is a companion live album which features a new title track song. "All I Know So Far" (co-written with Justin Paul and Benj Pasek with production by Greg Kurstin) was inspired to offer loving words of advice to her nine year old daughter, Willow. The music video for the song is a short film that features P!nk's family (including husband, Carey Hart and son, Jameson), actress, Judith Light and the one and only, Cher.
And the mother and daughter have already reached the pop charts together with "Cover Me With Sunshine", a song released in February they shared as a duet that found success across the globe.
Tawny Kitaen was an actress who appeared notably in the 1984 comedy, "Bachelor Party" (a film that helped launch Tom Hanks) but it was her numerous appearances dancing in music videos for the heavy-metal band, Whitesnake during the height of MTV that brought her acclaim as a video vixen. The San Diego born and raised performer sadly passed away on May 8th at the age of fifty-nine. No cause of death has been revealed to date.
Born Julie Kitaen, she started going by the nickname "Tawny" as a teen. Having studied ballet, gymnastics and with a deep love for rock & roll, Kitaen was perfect fit for music videos. She appeared in five videos with Whitesnake and was featured on the covers of Ratt's first two albums and the video, "Back for More". With her sensual moves, dramatic flair and wild mane of auburn hair, Kitaen made these clips quite memorable.
Kitaen had a relationship with Ratt guitarist, Robbin Crosby and would marry Whitesnake's lead vocalist, David Coverdale in 1989, but it was short-lived, ending after two years. She later wed baseball player, Chuck Finley in 1997 and they had two children. But this marriage would also end not long after the actress, who has had a history of substance abuse, was charged with spousal battery in 2002.
Marianne Faithfull first came to our attention with her 1964 hit recording of "As Tears Go By", composed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. She later began a high-profile romance with Jagger and became one of the symbols of the Swinging London scene. But she fell on hard times due to a deep descent in to drug addiction. Faithfull managed to survive and returned to music in 1979 but her sweet melodic voice had changed to a raspy croak yet that made her singing even more intriguing and dynamic.
After performing with a number of punk bands and traveling Europe, Courtney Love returned home to the States after deciding she wanted to act. But music would call her back and in 1989, she formed the rock band, Hole in Los Angeles. With their second album, "Live Through This", Love and her band became very successful, selling million of albums. She became romantically involved with Kurt Cobain, front man of the band, Nirvana who Love married in 1992 and they had a daughter, Frances Bean. But both were using heroin and the troubled Cobain sadly ended his life in 1994. Love was able to get clean and decided to once again pursue acting, appearing in the 1996 film, "The People vs. Larry Flynt" where she earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.
And while it shouldn't be completely surprising, Faithfull and Love have been good friends for many years. The Los Angeles Times brought these two rock icons together to discuss their careers, poetry (Faithfull has released a new album, "She Walks In Beauty" that features her favorite 19th century poems) and survival skills with Faithfull nearly dying from complications of COVID-19 last year.
Another great band is Heart. Formed in the early 1970's and lead by the sisters, Ann (who was the lead vocalist) and Nancy Wilson (who played lead guitar and provided backing vocals), this was the rare rock group that had two women calling the shots. And they were incredibly successful with several best selling albums and singles and over thirty-five million records sold worldwide. Vulture interviewed Nancy Wilson, who has just released her very first solo album, "You and Me", and asked her what she thought were her band's best, underrated and balliest songs.
It was a little over a decade ago when ten year old, Willow Smith had an unexpected international smash hit with the pop confection, "Whip My Hair". And while it's certainly a fun song, I'm sure her being the daughter of the actors, Will and Jada Pickett Smith helped bring some additional attention that made the track really take off. After this burst of success, Willow wanted to be taken seriously as an artist, becoming more involved in the creation of her music. She experimented with different sounds, venturing in to neo-soul and experimental pop.
Now at the age of twenty, Willow is moving in to very different musical direction. Her latest single, "Transparentsoul" ventures in to the sounds of '90's pop-rock. Inspired in part by her mother's former nu-metal band, Wicked Wisdom, Willow has teamed up with Travis Barker of Blink-182 on a high-energy record that's about seeing right through fake people. This seems to be the first single off an upcoming new album so it will be interesting to see what the rest of the record will sound like. Here is the music video for the song with Willow decked out in punk attire, giving us full on rock & roll performance.
