B. J. Thomas (Billy Joe Thomas, b. August 7, 1942, in Hugo, Oklahoma) is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s.

Thomas was reared in and around Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. Before his solo career, Thomas sang in a church choir as a teenager then joined the musical group The Triumphs. During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s featuring Head and Thomas.

In 1966, B. J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). The album featured a hit cover of the Hank Williams song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same name (Scepter Records).