The “5” Royales
The “5” Royales were an American R&B band that had a number of hits in the 1950s. However, some of her pieces were best known in the versions of other musicians, such as Dedicated to the One I Love ( The Shirelles , The Mamas and the Papas ), Tell the Truth ( Ray Charles ) and Think ( James Brown ).
The Royales combined gospel , jump blues and doo wop , making them pioneers of soul . James Brown formed his first band on the model of the Royales, and Eric Clapton as well as Steve Cropper have Lowman Pauling , the guitarist and songwriter of the Royales, among their models.
Band history
In 1942 , the gospel quintet The Royal Sons was founded in Winston-Salem , North Carolina . In 1951 they received a recording contract with Apollo Records, but as an R&B band in the style of the Dominoes or the Orioles . For the recordings, they changed their name to The Royals . At that time the group consisted of Lowman Pauling (vocals, guitar, songwriting), Johnny Tanner (lead singer), Jimmy Moore, Johnny Holmes, Obadiah "Scoop" Carter and Otto "Jeff" Jeffries.
Since there were other groups with the same name, they ended up calling themselves The “5” Royales . The quotation marks indicate that it was actually a sextet, even if Johnny Holmes was not involved in the R&B recordings out of religious convictions. The group initially made gospel recordings under the original name The Royal Sons . However, when the R&B recordings became hits, there was only The “5” Royales left .
By February 1954, the Royales had several top ten hits on the R&B charts, two of which were at number 1: Baby Don't Do It and Help Me Somebody . In mid-1954 the group switched to King Records . Meanwhile, Johnny Tanner's brother Eugene was one of them. But the success waned. It wasn't until 1957 that the Royales achieved another R&B top ten success with Thirty Second Lover , and in the same year Think even made it into the pop charts (66th place).
In 1960 the collaboration with King Records ended. Despite further recordings with other labels, the Royales remained without further success and disbanded in the mid-1960s.
In 2011 Steve Cropper released with many famous musicians - including Steve Winwood , BB King , Lucinda Williams , Bettye LaVette , Shemekia Copeland and others. a. - the tribute album Dedicated exclusively with titles from the Royales.
Discography (singles)
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1952 | Baby don't do it | - |
R&B1 (... week) R&B |
Apollo (# 441)
First published: September 1952 B-side: Take All of Me |
| 1953 | Help Me Somebody | - |
R&B1 (... week) R&B |
Apollo (# 446)
First published: April 1953 B-side: Crazy, Crazy, Crazy |
| Crazy, Crazy, Crazy | - |
R&B5 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of Help Me Somebody
|
|
| Too Much Lovin '(Much To Much) | - |
R&B4 (... weeks) R&B |
Apollo (# 448)
First published: July 1953 B-side: Laundromat Blues |
|
| 1954 | I do | - |
R&B6 (... weeks) R&B |
Apollo (# 452)
First published: January 1954 B-side: Good Things |
| 1957 | Tears of Joy | - |
R&B9 (... weeks) R&B |
King (# 5032)
First published: March 1957 B-side: Thirty Second Lover |
| Think |
US66 (12 weeks) US |
R&B9 (... weeks) R&B |
First published: May 1957
B-side: I'd Better Make a Move |
|
| 1961 | Dedicated to the One I Love |
US81 (4 weeks) US |
- |
King (# 5032)
First published: January 1961 B-side: The Miracle of Love |
Apollo Records (1952–1954)
- You Know I Know / Courage to Love (Apollo 441) (9/52)
- I want to thank you / all righty! (Apollo 450) (10/53)
- Cry Some More / I Like It Like That (Apollo 454) (4/54)
- What's That / Let Me Come Back Home (Apollo 458) (7/54)
- Six O'Clock in the Morning / With All Your Heart (Apollo 467) (1/55)
King Records (1954-1960)
- I'm Gonna Run It Down / Behave Yourself (King 4740) (8/54)
- Monkey Hips and Rice / Devil With the Rest (King 4744) (10/54)
- One Mistake / School Girl (King 4762) (12/54)
- Every Dog Has His Day / You Didn't Learn It at Home (King 4770) (1/55)
- I Need Your Lovin 'Baby / When I Get Like This (King 4806) (6/55)
- Women About to Make Me Go Crazy / Do Unto You (King 4819) (8/55)
- Someone Made You for Me / I Ain't Getting Caught (King 4830) (10/55)
- Right Around the Corner / When You Walked In Thru the Door (King 4869) (1/56)
- My Wants for Love / I Could Love You (King 4901) (2/56)
- Come On and Save Me / Get Something Out of It (King 4952) (7/56)
- Just as I Am / Mine Forever More (King 4973) (10/56)
- Say It / Messin 'Up (King 5082) (10/57)
- Dedicated to the One I Love / Don't Be Ashamed (King 5098) (12/57)
- Do The Cha Cha Cherry / The Feeling Is Real (King 5131) (4/58)
- Tell the Truth / Double or Nothing (King 5141) (6/58)
- Don't Let It Be Vain / The Slummer the Slum (King 5153) (10/58)
- The Real Thing / Your Only Love (King 5162) (11/58)
- Miracle of Love / I Know It's Hard But It's Fair (King 5191) (3/59)
- Tell Me You Care / Wonder Where Your Love Has Gone (King 5237) (7/59)
- It Hurts Inside / My Sugar Sugar
- I'm With You / Don't Give Me No More Than You Can Take (King 5329) (3/60)
- Why / (Something Moves Me) Within My Heart (King 5327) (6/60)
Web links
- The “5” Royales at Allmusic (English)
- Steve Walker: The “5” Royales (English) . On BlackCat Rockabilly
- “5” Royales (English). On History-of-rock.com