Last modified on Mon 31 May 2021 12.59 EDT In 1969, BJ Thomas, who has died of complications from lung cancer aged 78, spent four weeks at the top of the US chart with Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, from the soundtrack of the popular film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It is the song he will always be synonymous with, but he nearly didn’t get to sing it. As Thomas recalled, its composer Burt Bacharach originally wanted Bob Dylan to record it, but Dylan could not or would not oblige. Then Ray Stevens was offered it, but he too declined. When Thomas was at last given the job, he was warned not to sing by his doctor because he was suffering from laryngitis. “I had come off a two-week tour and had laryngitis and was barely able to eke out the thing for the soundtrack,” he remembered. Somehow he managed to battle his way through five takes in the studio and produce a result that the exacting Bacharach was happy with for the film. A recovered Thomas recorded a new vocal for the song’s release as a single.