![]() ![]() 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. “I’ll Pin a Note on Your Pillow” was another hit in country for Royal.Ī third resurgence occurred for Royal in the 2000’s when his songs were regularly featured on oldies radio stations, and he toured regularly in North American, Europe, and Japan.īilly Joe Royal is survived by his ex-wife Michelle Royal and daughter Savannah.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.” His 1987 album The Royal Treatment was eventually certified gold. But Billy Joe persevered, and put together a successful country career throughout the late 80’s. His song “Burned Like a Rocket” was on its way to becoming a big hit in country when the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster struck in January of 1986, and radio programmers pulled the single. Royal when out of the way at the time to say he didn’t particularly consider himself country, but he was embraced by the genre nonetheless. It was still songs that hearkened back to the golden age of rock and pop, with a cover of “Tell It Like It Is” being his greatest success, peaking at #2 on the country charts. Then in the 80’s, Billy Joe Royal made a comeback in the country realm, though his sound didn’t seem to change. He stayed there with songs such as “Hush,” which went on to be recorded by Deep Purple, and “I knew You When.” Royal became known as one of the premier singers in the blue-eyed soul scene, but his career began to fade in the 70’s as the popular styles began to change. But it was the sentiment of the poor kid trying to court a woman of high society in 1965’s “Down in the Boondocks” written by Joe South that put Billy Joe on the popular music map. It started when the singer began playing the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah, GA where he met Roy Orbison, who encouraged him to pursue singing as a career. According to reports, he passed away quietly in his sleep.īilly Joe Royal began his music career in the pop and rock worlds with some massive singles that have since become standards of the American songbook. ![]() The Valdosta, Georgia native and world renown singer was 73-years-old. ![]() The “boy from down in the boondocks,” Billy Joe Royal, died on Tuesday, October 6th at his home in Marietta, North Carolina. One of the most revered and recognizable voices in American pop and country music has passed away. ![]()
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