#5: The Eyes Of A New York Woman by BJ Thomas

City: Regina, SK
Radio Station: CJME
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Regina ~ #1
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #28
YouTube: “The Eyes Of A New York Woman”
Lyrics: “The Eyes Of A New York Woman”

Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, in 1942. His family eventually moved to Houston, Texas. When he was in his teens playing baseball, Billy Joe Thomas took the name of BJ. This was because there were too many boys on the baseball team with the name of Billy Joe. During his teens he sang in a church choir. In 1958, BJ Thomas heard “To Be Loved” by Jackie Wilson. He credits the song as being a catalyst for his love of singing. In the late 50’s, in grade eleven, his Junior year, BJ Thomas became lead singer for a local band named The Triumphs. He got to know Roy Head and the Traits. The Traits and The Triumphs participated in several Battle of the Bands events in the early 60’s. In 1966, BJ Thomas got a record contract with Scepter Records.

He released an album, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. The title track, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, climbed to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 in Windsor (ON), Hamilton (ON), and Toronto, #3 in Vancouver (BC), and #6 in London (ON) and Edmonton (AB). A follow up single from the album was “Mama”, which reached the Top 30 in the USA. The next release, “Billy And Sue” stalled at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next eight singles released between 1966 and 1968 were mostly commercial flops, with the higher chart run of these songs stalling at #75 on the Hot 100.

Then B.J. Thomas released “The Eyes of a New York Woman”.

“The Eyes of a New York Woman” was written by Mark James. His given name at birth was Francis Zambon, and he was born in Houston, Texas, in 1940. At High School he played the violin and the accordion and conducted the school orchestra, but he said later that he had not realised how much he loved music until he picked up a guitar. James befriended singer B.J. Thomas when both were young. He began writing songs and performing in clubs in Houston, and changed his name to Mark James after he was told that ‘Francis Zambon’ was “a non-starter.”

Mark James released his first single, “Jive Note”, in 1959. He formed a band, the Mark James Trio, and released several more songs co-written with Bobby Winder, including Running Back and Tell Me, released on Crazy Cajun Records in Houston, Texas, which was a minor hit in 1963. His career was temporarily halted when he was drafted into the US Army to serve in Vietnam with the First Infantry Division. After his discharge, he moved to Memphis in 1968. He wrote four consecutive single releases for B.J. Thomas starting with “The Eyes of a New York Woman”, “Hooked On A Feeling”, “It’s Only Love” and “Pass the Apple, Eve”. In 1968, Mark James released his own version of his song “Suspicious Minds”. When Elvis Presley heard it the ‘king of rock n’ roll’ decided to record it and the song became a number-one hit in the fall of 1969. In 1973, Brenda Lee had a Top Ten country hit with Mark James’ “Sunday Sunrise”. In 1977, Elvis Presley recorded “Moody Blue” which topped the Hot Country Singles chart in the USA.

In 1972, Elvis Presley released “Always On My Mind” as a B-side to “Separate Ways”. The single became an A-side in Europe and cracked the Top Ten in Belgium, Ireland and the UK. In 1981, Willie Nelson covered the song and it topped the Hot Country Singles chart, reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was a Top Ten pop hit in Canada and Ireland. Willie Nelson’s cover won three Grammy Awards: Best Country Song, and Song of the Year (which Mark James and his co-writers shared). Nelson won a third Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. Mark James continued to get more royalties when the Pet Shop Boys covered “Always On My Mind”. The synth-pop version topped the pop charts in Canada, Finland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and West Germany. It also reached #2 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, and Ireland, #3 in the Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Peru, and South Africa, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mark James was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015. He died in 2024 at the age of 83.

“The Eyes of a New York Woman” climbed to #1 in Regina (SK), Guelph (ON), Belleville (ON), and Burlington (VT), #2 in Tulsa (OK), St. Thomas (ON), San Diego, Wichita (KS), and Louisville (KY), #3 in Rochester (NY), and Milwaukee (WI), #4 in Boston, Winnipeg (MB), Toronto, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, #6 in Little Rock (AR), and Eau Claire (WI), #7 in Vancouver (BC), Cleveland, Chicago, and Memphis, #8 in Spokane (WA), Quincy (IL), Cincinnati (OH), Winchester (KY), Oshkosh (WI), and Seattle, #9 in Orlando, Santa Rosa (CA), and Toledo (OH), #10 in Vancouver (WA), Calgary, and Corpus Christi (TX).

dHis next single, “Hooked On A Feeling” climbed to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

However, it was his song, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”, from the 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, that took him to the top of the charts. It won an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the April 7, 1970, Academy Awards. For the recording, he was also nominated for a Grammy Award. This was in the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance category. But he lost out to Harry Nilsson’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” from the film Midnight Cowboy. Nonetheless, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

Other notable hits for Thomas in the 70s include “I Just Can’t Help Believing”, “No Love At All” and “Rock And Roll Lullaby”. Another single, “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”, topped the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated by the Country Music Association for Single of the Year.

BJ Thomas has struggled with addictions over both alcohol and drugs. Looking back on his years as an addict, Thomas reflects, “You say ‘Well, you know if I do this, it’s probably going to kill me’ and you go ‘Ah, I don’t care.’ And that’s the addiction talking, not really you. Finally you have to get to the point where you realize, ‘You know what? I don’t want to die. I want to live.’”

In 1977, Thomas’ cover of the Beach Boys “Don’t Worry Baby” topped the Adult Contemporary chart in Canada.

Thomas has been sober since 1976. Around this time he and his wife, Gloria, became Christian. That same year BJ Thomas released Home Where I Belong. The album was a huge hit on the Christian album charts. He was given a Grammy Award for Home Where I Belong in the Best Inspirational Performance category. This established BJ Thomas as a leading artist in the contemporary Christian singles and album charts. In 1978, B.J. Thomas won a second Grammy Award in the Best Inspirational Performance category for the album Happy Man. And in 1979, he won a third Grammy Award in the same category for the album You Gave Me Love (When Nobody Gave Me a Prayer). Then in 1980, B.J. Thomas was part of a vocal ensemble along with Andraé Crouch, Walter and Tramaine Hawkins, and others for the album The Lord’s Prayer. In 1980, it won Thomas and others a Grammy Award in the Best Gospel Performance – Contemporary. In 1981, B.J. Thomas won his fifth Grammy Award in five years. This was again in the Best Inspirational Performance category, and for his album Amazing Grace. 

Between 1979 and 1983, he had seven Top Ten hits on the American Christian charts. This included a #1 hit on that chart titled “Jesus On My Mind”. In addition, BJ Thomas charted two number one hits on the Billboard Country charts in the mid-80’s.

In 1983, “What Ever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love” topped the Hot Country Singles chart in the USA. Later that year his single “New Looks from an Old Lover” also reached number-one on the Hot Country Singles chart. Also in 1983 “Two Car Garage” reached number-one on the Canadian RPM Country chart.

Over the years B.J. Thomas charted eight pop songs into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also released over fifty studio albums between 1966 and 2017. In 2021, B.J. Thomas died of lung cancer at the age of 78.

February 23, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
BJ Thomas From Then to Now, BJ Thomas.net
Howard Kerbel, A Conversation With BJ Thomas: Love, Near Tragedy And A Song That Saved Him, Huffington Post, August 6, 2016.
John W. Kennedy, Conversation: BJ Thomas, Pentecostal Evangel, March 13, 2014.
Mark Charron Credits, All Music.com.
Harrison Smith, “B.J. Thomas who sang ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head,’ dies at 78,” Washington Post, May 29, 2021.
Greg Brodsky, “Mark James, Songwriter of ‘Suspicious Minds’ and Other Hits, Dies,” Best Classic Bands, June 11, 2024.

Boss Fifty CJME 1300-AM Regina (SK) | September 6, 1968