South, as it happened, had hoped to pitch the song to Gene Pitney (who was already a popular star) and requested that Royal record a demo of the tune. It was South, in fact, who wrote "Down in the Boondocks," the recording that made Royal a star. There he made a number of cover recordings and made contact again with South. When these early demos failed to attract attention, he moved to Cincinnati in an ongoing quest for a recording contract. Working five-hour stints on stage and maintaining six-day workweeks, Royal likewise established professional associations with leading R&B artists -the Isley Brothers and Sam Cooke among others.īeginning in 1962 Royal taped an assortment of low-budget demos and singles, and sent them to Motown and other major labels. During this period Royal shared living quarters for a time with songwriter Joe South, and the two developed a personal friendship. Royal also formed his own band, Billy Joe and the Corvettes, during high school, and by age 16 he was performing locally on a regular basis.Īfter graduation Royal moved to Savannah, where for two years he made regular appearances at the city's popular soul and rhythm-and-blues clubs. The program featured prominent guest artists and brought Royal into professional contact with classic country music artists such as Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, and various members of the Grand Ole Opry radio barn dance cast. At age 14 Royal joined a musical revue called Georgia Jubilee. He then learned to play the steel guitar. He delivered newspapers as a schoolboy, but by age 11 he was in pursuit of a show-business career, beginning with regular singing appearances on his uncle's radio show. The family moved to Marietta when Royal was seven years of age, and to Atlanta three years later. He was the son of a self-employed truck driver. Royal was born on Ap(or 1945, according to some sources) in Valdosta, Georgia. Clear and direct in his vocal delivery, Royal performed on guitar, piano, and drums, and also made his mark as a published composer. He earned stardom in his own right in the 1960s after the release of a top ten hit single, "Down in the Boondocks." Despite periods of low visibility, Royal's popularity endured through the next three decades and into the new millennium. Nevertheless his country career continued and he had hits with “I’ll Pin A Note On Your Pillow”, a revival of Aaron Neville’s “Tell It Like It Is”, and a duet of “Members Only” with Donna Fargo.Rising from the unpretentious background of a Georgia schoolboy, Billy Joe Royal was rubbing elbows with the most popular country and rhythm-and-blues performers of the 1950s by the time he had graduated from high school. In 1985 Royal was doing well with the country single “Burned Like A Rocket” for Atlantic’s new Nashville division, but after the space shuttle Challenger exploded any further airplay was out of the question. He was in the 1974 film Catch My Soul, a rock’n’roll version of Othello, the concept of Jack Good and the only film to be directed by Patrick McGoohan, of The Prisoner fame. In 1969 Royal returned to the American charts with “Cherry Hill Park” and also recorded “Heart’s Desire”, which became a Northern soul favourite. On the final night of a huge package tour promoted by Dick Clark, each performer had to dress as another artist on the bill and Royal, Peter Asher and Tom Jones became the girl group, the Shirelles. Royal followed it with further South songs including the multi-tracked “I Knew You When”, and “Hush”, which became a US Top 10 for Deep Purple.
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