5-time Grammy winner BJ Thomas to make holiday concert DVD/video at Renaissance Center
Release Date: 9/20/2004. Expired: 10/29/2004
Five-time Grammy winner B.J. Thomas will be presenting an early Christmas present when he performs a holiday-themed concert at The Renaissance Center in Dickson Oct. 29. The concert will be taped by the center’s award-winning Multimedia Department for release as a DVD/VHS and possible broadcast.
Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert in the Performance Hall are $20.
With more than 70 million records sold worldwide, Thomas has collected five Grammy awards, two Dove award and two Angel awards for his inspirational recordings. His songs have topped the pop, country and gospel charts over the last four decades.
Thomas is best known for his 1969 smash hit Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, which won the Academy Award for Best Song from the soundtrack to the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The concert at The Renaissance Center will include some of Thomas’ biggest pop and country hits as well as several traditional and contemporary Christmas songs. It is planned for release in time for the 2005 holiday season.
An Oklahoma native, Billy Joe Thomas adopted the nickname B.J. growing up in Houston, Texas, because there were too many players named Billy Joe on his little league baseball team. As a high school junior, he became lead singer in a local band called The Triumphs. The group’s version of Hank Williams’ classic I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry caught the ear of a promoter and landed a recording contract for Thomas with Scepter Records, which released the song nationally and it sold a million copies by 1966.
Thomas became Scepter’s most successful solo artist as he followed up with chart hits Eyes of a New York Woman and Hooked on a Feeling before exploding with the Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned Raindrops, which Thomas performed on the 1970 Oscar telecast.
He followed with soft-pop hits such as I Just Can’t Help Believing and Rock and Roll Lullaby, selling millions of records and appearing regularly on television programs such as the Ed Sullivan Show.
After Scepter Records went out of business, Thomas went a new country-pop direction when he landed at ABC Records and hit with (Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song in 1975. After trying several more labels, Thomas had his biggest country success in the mid-1980s when he topped the charts with Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Love and New Looks From an Old Lover, followed by top 10 songs with The Whole World’s in Love When You’re Lonely and Two-Car Garage.
Throughout his career, Thomas had also recorded inspirational songs on the Myrrh label, earning platinum records and becoming one of the top selling contemporary Christian artists of the time.
He won the Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance in 1977 (Home Where I Belong), 1978 (Happy Man), 1979 (You Gave Me Love) and 1981 (Amazing Grace), while earning a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance in 1980 as part of an ensemble recording of the Lord’s Prayer. He also picked up Dove Awards for Gospel Record of the Year in 1977 and 1981.
Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry on his 39th birthday in 1981. He and wife Gloria celebrated 35 years of marriage last year, not long after welcoming their first grandchild. The couple has three children, Paige, Nora and Erin. Nora, adopted from a Korean orphanage in 1978, and her husband welcomed their first child, Nadia Soo Mee Cloud, in November.
Thomas still lives in Texas and continues to record music and perform in concert.
For more information on the B.J. Thomas concert at The Renaissance Center Oct. 29, call (615)740-5600. To purchase tickets, call (615)740-5570.
The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172. The B.J. Thomas show is the latest in a line of concert video/DVDs to be produced by the Multimedia Department at The Renaissance Center, along with shows featuring Three Dog Night, John Kay, Little River Band, Eddie Money, Riders in the Sky, Bill Anderson and Lynn Anderson.
Visit the Events - Concerts and Recitals page for more about musical performances.
News
| Date Released | Expiration | Headline |
|---|---|---|
| No Press Releases to show... | ||