![]() 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. He was 73.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.” He died October 6, 2015, in Morehead City, North Carolina. Royal was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988. He experienced more hits on the country charts, including his biggest, a cover of “Tell It Like It Is,” and his final charter, 1992’s “I’m Okay (and Gettin’ Better).” He later signed with Atlantic Records and experienced a country hit with the song “Burned Like a Rocket” in 1986. He changed labels several times throughout the 1970s and eventually ended up at Mercury Records, where he released a self-titled album in 1980. His other hits included “I Knew You When” and “Cherry Hill Park,” the latter of which was his final pop hit in 1969. He later signed with Columbia Records and released “Down in the Boondocks” in 1965, which peaked at No. Royal got his start as a performer after moving to Savannah, Georgia, and gaining a following at the Bamboo Ranch, where he sang to crowds of nearly 2,500. Additionally, his music was featured on the soundtracks for the films Riding in Cars with Boys and Glory Road. He also performed his songs on television, including spots on The Merv Griffin Show, Hollywood a Go Go, New American Bandstand 1965, The Real Tom Kennedy Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, Hee Haw and The Pat Sajak Show. Billy Joe Royal was a country musician and pop performer best known for his hits “Down in the Boondocks" and "Burn Like a Rocket."
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