Billy
Joe Royal
A
native of Valdosta, Georgia, Royal has always been a singer. He
went 'pro' at the tender age of eleven, singing on a popular radio
show in his hometown. Within six years he had progressed to the
"Georgia Jubilee," broadcast out of Atlanta. There he
joined other stars-to-be such as Jerry Reed, Ray Stevens, Freddy
Weller, and Joe South, who went on to write several of Royal's
classic rock hits.
It was during
this early phase of his career that the seeds were sown for Royal's
musical diversity, especially while he was performing regularly
at a Savannah nightclub. "They would always book both R&B
and country act," he recalls. "One week we'd be working
with Ray Price and the next week we'd be working with Sam Cooke.
It gave me a change to watch and listen and learn from all types
of singers. It was really the greatest education in the world
for a young guy just starting out."
In 1965 Royal
put that education to use when South approached him with a song
he'd written. Recorded in a re-converted school building with
a septic tank serving as an echo chamber, "Down In The Boondocks"
quickly shot into the top ten. Suddenly Royal was living the life
of a teen idol, touring with Dick Clark's Cavalcade of Stars,
making numerous national TV appearances and gracing the pages
of countless teen fan magazines. Additional hits such as "I
Knew You When," "Cherry Hill Park," and "Hush"
kept the blue-eyed singer near the top of the charts — until
just as suddenly as it started, it was all over. The era of acid
rock and underground FM radio was underway, and Royal's style
of music was considered outdated. "Hard rock came in and
I didn't really fit in there anywhere," he says today. "
Everything was group oriented and all at once there just didn't
seem to be a place for me."
During the
remainder of the ‘70's he continued to perform and release
records but nothing made an impact. Now, he jokes that he spent
the entire decade "somewhere out in the desert with just
a rifle and canteen," but as the 1980's dawned he started
hearing the familiar sounds of his past on country radio stations
around the nation. "I noticed that Kenny Rogers started having
hit after hit," Royal remarks. "Then Bill Medley had
a few hits, and then B.J. Thomas, and I really felt like what
I was doing in the 60's would be accepted as country. I didn't
have to change my style, or anything about the way I sing. What
I'm doing now sounds almost exactly like what I was doing in the
60's, only now it's called country," he observes.
After making
the rounds of Nashville producers and record labels he failed
to land a contract, though Nelson Larkin agreed to do a session
with the singer. The result, "Burned Like A Rocket,"
flew into the national top 10 and earned the artist an Atlantic
Records contract. His debut Atlantic album, Looking Ahead, contained
another hit single, "I Miss You Already."
His follow-up
album, The Royal Treatment, went on to become the first gold album
of his career, generating three hit singles: "I'll Pin A
Note On Your Pillow," "Out Of Sight and On My Mind"
and "It Keeps Right On Hurtin.'" The string of hits
continued unabated over the course of his next two Atlantic albums,
with such titles as "Love Has Not Right," "Till
I Can't Take It Anymore" and "Tell It Like It Is"
— all included on Greatest Hits — dominating radio playlists
from coast to coast. His success also spread to the field of country
videos, with six of his clips becoming among the most requested
in the history of Country Music Television.
With his Atlantic
release, Out Of The Shadows, Royal has extended his musical stride
even further. From the lead-off single, "Searchin' For Some
Kind Of Clue," with its bluesy overtones and flashes of early
rock n' roll, to the achingly slow country lament "Lover
To Lover," the sound is as unmistakably Billy Joe Royal as
one of his own fingerprints. His gospel roots are evident on the
moving "How Hard Can It Be," while on "Now Could
You Leave Me" the singer ventures into an edgier style of
country/rock complete with funky synthesizers and metal-tinged
slide guitars.
Billy Joe
Royal has never followed fads and never will. With his Greatest
Hits project even the most casual listener will understand why
he is content with being himself, and why that is more than enough.
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