1/28/2024 0 Comments Billy joe royalHe discovered to play metal guitar and became a member of the Georgia Jubilee in Atlanta at 14, executing with Joe South, Jerry Reed, and Ray Stevens, among other performers. Royal was created into a category of musical entertainers in Valdosta, Georgia, and produced his debut on his uncle’s radio display at age 11. Although he never really had another strike as effective as “Down within the Boondocks,” he racked up about 15 singles that strike the country graphs during the period of the 1980s. That makes up what you are.Most widely known for his country-flavored rock and roll strike “Down within the Boondocks,” Billy Joe Royal had an extended career that found him become among the 1st pop performers to successfully revive his business fortunes by embracing straight nation music. You borrow a little bit from everybody and then add your own individual touch along the way. They’d come into town and then I’d do their songs after they left. “I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to work with a lot of great singers over the years. “I really think your musical identity is obtained when you’re young,” says the Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee. Royal continues to make his mark in country music with a self-proclaimed “hodge-podge” of influences and over a dozen singles including, “I’ll Pin A Note On Your Pillow,” “Tell It Like It Is” and “Till I Can’t Take It Anymore.” It became a Top Ten country single and started a whole new career for me.” It struggled for about half a year on an independent label until Atlantic Records picked it up. So I moved back to Georgia, started coming to Nashville and eventually cut the country single, Burned Like A Rocket. “I was working and still doing okay financially after the pop career slowed down,” Royal says. Royal released nine pop singles from 1965–1978 including, “I Knew You When,” “I’ve Got To Be Somebody” and “Cherry Hill Park.” Here I was touring with all these wonderful people that I’d heard on the radio and all of a sudden we were becoming friends. “We did a show every night for 3 months straight with stars like Tom Jones, Neil Diamond and The Shirelles. ”The first thing I did of any consequence after Boondocks hit is tour with ‘The Dick ClarkCavalcade of Stars,’” Royal says. It was just a great place to learn and develop your voice.”Īfter releasing a few local singles that failed to take off, Royal became a hot national commodity with the Joe South penned tune, “Down In The Boondocks.” We had some big name R&B and country acts play there like Roy Orbison, Fats Domino, The Isley Brothers, Sam Cooke, Ray Price, Marty Robbins and George Jones. “We played six nights a week, five hours a night. When the Georgia Jubilee broke up, Royal landed a job at the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah, Ga. Royal appeared on his uncle’s radio show in his hometown of Valdosta, Ga., at the age of eleven.īy fourteen, Royal became a regular on the Friday night Atlanta-based radio show, “Georgia Jubilee,” with the likes of Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Joe South, Freddy Weller and various Grand Ole Opry stars. You’d get a country thing during the afternoon, then black gospel until sundown and at night you’d get rhythm and blues. And the local radio stations would play three or four different formats a day. “My uncle had a band, my grandmother played, my whole family played. ”I was really lucky to always be around music as a kid,” Royal says. Royal grew up in a musical family and listened to a variety of styles on the Georgia radio stations. ”I never thought I was going to have another hit record,” says Royal, who will perform at the Little Nashville Opry in Nashville, Indiana, on Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m. Billy Joe Royal at Little Nashville Opry March 20īy Tamela Meredith Partridge When Billy Joe Royal recorded the 1965 debut pop hit, “Down In The Boondocks,” the Georgia singer/songwriter had no idea he’d top the country charts twenty years later with the 1985 smash, “Burn Like A Rocket.”
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