Billy Joe Royal
Billy Joe Royal (April 3, 1942 – October 6, 2015) was an American pop and country singer. His most successful record was "Down in the Boondocks" in 1965.
Life and career
Born in Valdosta, Georgia to Clarence Royal and Mary Sue Smith, and raised in Marietta, Georgia, Royal performed at the Georgia Jubilee in Atlanta during his teens. He formed his own rock and roll band, and became a local star at the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah in the late 1950s and early 1960s, where his singing style was influenced by African-American performers including Sam Cooke.
He was a friend of performer and songwriter Joe South, and recorded what was intended as a demo of South's song "Down in the Boondocks". The recording was heard at Columbia Records, who offered Royal a singing contract in 1965 and released his version of the song, produced by South. "Down in the Boondocks" remained his best-known song, reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 38 in the UK.
He followed up his initial success with the singles "I Knew You When" (Top 20, 1965) and "Hush" (1967), also written and produced by Joe South. Another South composition, "Yo-Yo," just missed the top 40 in Canada and charted poorly in the U.S. when Royal released it in 1967, but a later remake by The Osmonds was a much greater success. His 1969 single, "Cherry Hill Park", peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the 1970s his recording of "Heart's Desire" gained popularity among Northern soul enthusiasts and was regularly played in Northern soul nightclubs.
Billy Joe
Billy Joe may refer to:
See also
Billy Joe (American football)
William "Billy" Joe (born October 14, 1940) is a former collegiate and professional American football player and former college football head coach. He was the American Football League Rookie of the Year in 1963 with the AFL's Denver Broncos. In 1965, he was traded to the Buffalo Bills for their legendary fullback, Cookie Gilchrist, and made the AFL All-Star Team, starting for the Bills in their 1965 AFL Championship victory over the San Diego Chargers.
Joe later was a successful college head coach for 33 seasons. He coached at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1978, Central State University from 1981 to 1993, Florida A&M University from 1994 to 2004, and Miles College from 2007 to 2010. Joe achieved his greatest success at Central State, where his teams won 2 NAIA National Football Championships in 1990 and 1992 and made many appearances in the NAIA football playoffs during the 1980s and 1990s. He teams at Florida A&M have made various appearances in the Division I-AA (now FCS) playoffs during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Podcasts:
Billy Joe Royal
ALBUMS
- Stay Close to Home released: 1998
- Down in the Boondocks: 20 Great Songs released: 1993
- Greatest Hits released: 1991
- Out of the Shadows released: 1990
- Greatest Hits released: 1989
- 20 Greatest Hits released: 1988
- The Royal Treatment released: 1987
- Down in the Boondocks released: 1965
- Tell It Like It Is released:
- Looking Ahead released:
Down in the Boondocks: 20 Great Songs
Released 1993- Down in the Boondocks
- I Knew You When
- I've Got to Be Somebody
- Campfire Girls
- Hush
- Cherryhill Park
- Tulsa
- On Broadway
- Up on the Roof
- Drift Away
- Stand by Me
- Please Come to Boston
- Lavender Blue
- Rose Garden
- Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
- If I Could
- To Love Somebody
- Nobody but You
- Spanish Harlem
- Save the Last Dance for Me
20 Greatest Hits
Released 1988- Down in the Boondocks
- Cherryhill Park
- I Knew You When
- Up on the Roof
- On Broadway
- Save the Last Dance for Me
- Drift Away
- Hush
- If I Could
- To Love Somebody
- Stand by Me
- Rose Garden
- Tulsa
- Campfire Girls
- I've Got to Be Somebody
- Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
- Please Come to Boston
- Lavender Blue
- Nobody but You
- Spanish Harlem
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Slip Away
by: Billy Joe RoyalWhat would I give for just a few moments
What would I give just to have you near
Tell me you would try to slip away somehow
Oh I need you darling I want to see you right now
Can you slip away, slip away
Slip away, oh I need you so
Oh love oh love, how sweet it is
When you still involve it
Let me tell you how sweet it is
Now I know it's wrong,
The things I ask you to do
But please believe me darling
I don't mean to hurt you
But can you slip away
Without him knowin you're gone
Baby we could meet somewhere,
Somewhere we both are not known
Can you slip away, slip away,
Slip away-ay-ay-ay I need you so
Oh can you slip away baby
I'd like to see you right now darling
Can you slip away baby
Cause I got to, got to see you
I feel a deep burning inside