ROY HAMILTON
by Billy Vera

The name of ROY HAMILTON is pretty much forgotten today, but during his reigning days as a "hit maker" you could almost always turn the radio on and hear his exciting vocalizations. Roy was born in Leesburg, GA., on April 16, 1929. By the age of 6 he was singing in the local church choir. At age 14 his parents moved to New Jersey and Roy began to seriously study art but also kept his hand in singing and started coaching with a professional coach singer. At age 19 he sang with the SEARCHLIGHT GOSPEL SINGERS. From this early period on, Roy's paintings were regularly on display in East Coast galleries., but it is as a singer that he is remembered. Still in his late teens, Roy began singing professionally. By the time the mid 50's came around, Roy, now in his 20's was active in the nightclub circuit. It was at this time, while performing in a Jersey club that a talent agent named Bill Cook (who worked for Epic/Columbia Records) discovered him. Because of his many years of gospel church work, Roy had a tremendous sense of rhythm and Epic records wanted to exploit this.

His first commercial single, called DON'T LET GO was written by veteran Jesse Stone. It was a blockbuster hit for Roy and resulted in a string of rhythm & blues oriented tunes. Roy had a much softer, gentler side and Epic allowed him to display his big booming baritone on ballads too. His versions of EBB TIDE, UNCHAINED MELODY & YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE were also major hits for him. He wanted to establish himself as a world-class entertainer like his idol NAT KING COLE.

As a result, he made a series of wonderful albums arranged by the best orchestra writers devoted to the great American songbook. These albums were not well promoted at the time and although very well done, did not establish Roy as a singer of ballads as he wanted. His audience and record company continued to push him into singing hard-driving R&B oriented material. Although Roy always gave his best, he was disappointed and depressed about being pigeonholed with only certain types of music. 

After the hits stopped, Epic Records dropped him as an artist. He then was picked up by MGM Records for a short 2 LP stint. After recording steadily throughout the 50's & 60's, Roy made his final and only LP for RCA in the late 60's. Roy died in 1969 at the young age of 40. His death has been shrouded in mystery. Some say it was suicide, others a stroke. Regardless of any of this, he left us a large body or recorded works that will keep his name alive. His influence and style affected countless artists that followed in his footsteps. 

Just recently many of his long out of print LP's have been re-issued and made available for the first time in many years. They have been well received and now Roy, after being gone for more than 30 years, is being re-evaluated. Such is the way of show business. The following songs were all charted records in BILLBOARD MAGAZINE;

by Billy Vera