Royal’s lilting tenor gave the song a determined sort of innocence, as he sang, “One fine day I’ll find a way to move from this old shack. Written and produced by South, it was the star-crossed love story of a poor boy and a rich girl. Royal’s working class Valdosta roots show up in his first and biggest hit, “Down in the Boondocks,” which peaked at number nine on the Top 40 chart in 1965. So if he could do it, maybe we could do it.” “He was our inspiration - a Southern boy from humble beginnings. Like so many other young singers from the South, Royal’s first hero was Elvis Presley. The second time he was there he put his arm around me and said, ‘You just keep getting better and better.’ For a kid, I can’t tell you how that felt.” “I got to meet these people and learn from them,” Royal said. That’s also when Royal and South began cutting demos and low-budget singles and honing their hybrid rock-country-soul sound. King, the Drifters, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison and George Jones. Royal and South roomed together and performed with rock and roll, rhythm and blues and country stars, including the likes of Fats Domino, B.B.
He spent two years there, working six days a week and playing five sets a night, with his friend, songwriter, producer and guitarist, Joe South. In the late ’50s, Royal was making $75 a week singing at the Anchorage Club in the Clermont Hotel in Atlanta, when he was offered a job at the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah. Royal’s family moved to Marietta when he was in grade school, and as a teenager he joined the Georgia Jubilee musical revue in East Point, which included Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed. “And for some reason, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
“They had a radio show in Valdosta and they let me sing,” Royal recalled. I can sing and ride a horse, and that’s about it.”īorn in Valdosta in 1942, Royal began singing at a young age, first appearing with his uncles’ country-western band. “My agent told me they wanted me because I look good riding a horse,” Royal said. Royal, who admitted he’d always been afraid to fly, laughed as he described the unlikely nine-hour journey.
#BJ THOMAS AND BILLY JOE ROYAL MOVIE#
Recently, he called on his way to Pigeon Forge, Tenn., where he was driving to a meet a movie director to discuss a part in an upcoming western. One of a kind.- BJ Thomas October 7, 2015ĬNN’s Sam Stringer contributed to this report.After more than 20 years in Nashville, and stints in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Los Angeles before that, Royal now lives in coastal North Carolina, to be near his teenage daughter. My best friend Billy Joe Royal, died this morning. “My best friend, Billy Joe Royal, died this morning. Since then he has toured with other performers from his era, including B.J. His most recent project, “His First Gospel Album,” was released in 2009. He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988. His final chart single was 1992’s “I’m Okay (And Gettin’ Better),” which peaked at number 51 on the Country Airplay chart. His career continued with 14 singles that hit the country charts, including “Tell It Like It Is,” which peaked at number two in 1989. He was poised for a comeback in 1985 with his first release for Atlantic Records, “Burned like a Rocket.” The track was climbing the country singles chart when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, and “radio dropped it like a hot potato,” Royal said in a 2010 interview, according to Billboard. Royal left Columbia to record music on smaller labels in the 1970s before releasing a self-titled album in 1980 with Mercury Records.
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