Billy Joe Royal - Tell It Like It Is '1989

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. Tell It Like It Is (02:56)
2. Kiss and Say Goodbye (03:15)
3. Slip Away (03:11)
4. He Don't Know (02:49)
5. Cross My Heart and Hope to Try (03:24)
6. Love Has No Right (03:01)
7. The Truth Is I Lied (03:04)
8. Till I Can't Take It Anymore (03:55)
9. I Was Losing You (03:32)
10. What's the Matter Baby (03:25)
11. Love Is a Full Time Job (03:26)


 moreRoyal 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. 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 had his own rock & roll band in high school and was regularly
singing around Atlanta by the age of 16. He also spent time in Savannah, where
he was influenced by African-American vocal styles and began to develop his
distinctive vocal sound. 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. In 1962, he recorded an independent single that
went unnoticed. 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. 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.

The demo ended up at Columbia, and the label signed Royal to a six-year deal.
The song became Royal's breakthrough single, reaching number nine on the pop
charts and briefly making the vocalist into a teen idol. 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. He also did a bit of acting on television, in feature films,
and in commercials. In 1978, he recorded a cover of "Under the Boardwalk" and
scored a minor hit.

The wrong-side-of-the-tracks theme of "Down in the Boondocks" was a familiar one
to country audiences, and during the early '80s Royal worked on establishing
himself as a country artist. In 1984, he broke through when he recorded the Gary
Burr composition "Burned Like a Rocket"; it was picked up by the Atlantic label,
which signed Royal to a contract. The single became a hit and reached the
country Top Ten in early 1986. Over the next two years he had a string of Top 40
hits, breaking into the Top Ten in late 1987 once again with "I'll Pin a Note on
Your Pillow." In 1989, Royal released the album Tell It Like Is; the title cut,
a remake of the venerable soul standard, became his biggest hit, peaking at
number two, while the album itself stayed in the Top 15 for over a year. By
1990, Royal's style of pop-inflected country had been replaced by
neo-traditional honky tonk at the top of the charts, and his popularity began to
decline. He continued to have minor hits into 1992 and toured into the 2000s.
Royal launched a comeback with the 1998 album Stay Close to Home on the
Intersound label, following up with the independent release Now and Then, Then
and Now in 2001. "I know exactly what George Jones feels. But I know exactly
what Ray Charles feels, too," Royal once said, and by the beginning of the new
century, a host of reissues of Royal's work testified to his status as a vocal
craftsman whose success transcended genre. © Sandra Brennan



Billy Joe Royal - Tell It Like It Is.rar - 208.5 MB

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