![]() ![]() Following its success, Royal had a string of lesser hits, including the Top 40 pop singles "I Knew You When," "I've Got to Be Somebody," and "Cherry Hill Park." By the end of the decade, Royal's star waned, and he became a regular performer in Las Vegas and around Lake Tahoe. The song became Royal's breakthrough single, reaching number nine on the pop charts and briefly making the vocalist into a teen idol. The demo ended up at Columbia, and the label signed Royal to a six-year deal. Royal flew from Cincinnati (where he was working at the time) to Atlanta and cut "Down in the Boondocks," whose churchy echo resulted from the use during recording of a large septic tank that had been dragged into the studio. Royal and South roomed together for a time, and two or three years later South contacted him with a song he wanted Royal to sing as a demo, in the hope that Gene Pitney would record it. In 1962, he recorded an independent single that went unnoticed. Performing at a nightclub that also booked Sam Cooke and other African-American stars, Royal observed their vocal moves and began to practice them on his own time. He also spent time in Savannah, where he was influenced by African-American vocal styles and began to develop his distinctive vocal sound. Royal had his own rock & roll band in high school and was regularly singing around Atlanta by the age of 16. ![]() He learned to play steel guitar and joined the Georgia Jubilee in Atlanta at 14, performing with Joe South, Jerry Reed, and Ray Stevens, among several other artists. Royal was born into a family of musical entertainers in Valdosta, Georgia, and made his debut on his uncle's radio show at the age of 11. Although he never had another hit as successful as "Down in the Boondocks," he racked up about 15 singles that hit the country charts over the course of the 1980s. I actually didn’t change what I did stylistically at all.Best known for his country-flavored rock hit "Down in the Boondocks," Billy Joe Royal had a long career that saw him become one of the first pop performers to successfully revive his commercial fortunes by turning to straight country music. “Burned like a Rocket’ was something like I would have cut back in the 1960s,” he said. Some stated that Royal had “gone Country,” but the singer said he really didn’t feel as if his music had changed at all. I was on Atlantic Records, and they were really behind me, as was everyone at radio. “Nelson was such a great producer, and we had great musicians. The singer credited great songs – and his producer for his career renaissance. Royal’s 1987 album The Royal Treatment earned him a Gold certification, as well. His next fourteen single releases hit the country charts, with the biggest being his cover of “Tell It Like It Is,” which hit No. “By that time, it was in the top ten, so the song really led to a great period for me.” For some reason, it didn’t dawn on me that it would affect my record, but radio dropped it like a hot potato.” But, it wasn’t the end of his country career. “I remember that I was in (producer) Nelson Larkin’s office watching TV, and we saw the shuttle go down. Then, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, and due to the title of the song, the release began to fall quickly back down the chart. The track was rapidly climbing the country singles chart, and had just entered the top ten in January 1986. His first release for the label, “Burned like a Rocket,” was sent to radio in the latter part of 1985. However, it was another five years until Royal tasted career success again, signing with Atlantic Records in Nashville. Royal would leave Columbia for stints on smaller labels in the 1970s, eventually landing on Mercury Records, for whom he released a self-titled album in 1980. The singer’s subsequent hits included “I Knew You When” and “Cherry Hill Park,” which became his final Top-40 on the pop charts in 1969. It was an amazing feeling, and led to a great career.” “I was living in Cincinnati, Ohio at the time, and a radio friend of mine named Dusty Rhodes played the record. In a 2010 interview, Royal recalled the first time he heard the song on the radio. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the Joe South composition helped him to become a star. Royal’s career path took him to Columbia Records, where he released “Down in the Boondocks” in 1965. Roy Orbison’s Top Hot 100 Hits: A Playlist Earth, Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey Remembers Sheldon Reynolds: 'A Genuinely Kind and Loving Person' ![]()
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