Troy Shondell
Troy Shondell (born May 14, 1940 as Gary Shelton in Fort Wayne , Indiana , † January 7, 2016 in Picayune , Mississippi ) was an American pop and country singer .
Musical career
Troy Shondell took his stage name quite late. As Gary Shelton, his father taught him his musical skills. He taught him how to play the trumpet at the age of four. Gary had learned to play the piano from his father when he was eight. In the following years he learned other musical instruments. When he was fourteen he wrote his first pop song entitled A Prayer and a Jukebox , which was later sung by the group Little Anthony & the Imperials and released by the End Records label in 1959. While still in high school, he began to publish records himself, for example, in 1958, the well-known record company Mercury Records released the title Yours Till I Die, which he wrote . Although his first recordings in the US did not attract much attention, he was making a name for himself with his band in the Chicago area at the time when he brought rock 'n' roll to the program for the first time with great success at Chicago's Brass Rail .
In 1961 a record appeared for the first time under the stage name Troy Shondell. He had previously founded their own record company Goldcrest with his friend Webb Foley. In April, the two tracks This Time and Girl After Girl were produced in Chicago and published under catalog number Goldcrest 161. It had been agreed that the Hollywood label Liberty Records would take over the distribution. When it became clear that the song This Time could be a success, Liberty acquired the rights to the single and launched it under its own catalog number 55353 in July 1961. Two months later, This Time appeared on the US music magazine Billbord's Hot 100 for the first time and rose to its top rating of sixth within four weeks. This Time stayed on the Hot 100 for a total of 13 weeks and sold over three million times. The single was also marketed internationally, including in Germany. This Time ranked 17th in the UK .
With both titles of his next single Shondell came back into the Hot 100, but with much more modest ratings. While Tears From an Angel reached number 77, Island In The Sky only came in at number 92. After Shondell's third Liberty single flopped, the record company ended their collaboration with him in 1962. Then Shondell moved from record company to record company until 1971, without being able to achieve another record success. Two long-playing records were produced at Everest and Sunset in 1963 and 1967 , but they did not get a big response. With his hit title This Time alone , Shondell had such a lasting impact on the rock 'n' roll scene that Tommy Jackson renamed his band from Tom and the Tornados to The Shondells in 1963. Chicago's Jim Peterik also called his newly formed band The Shondels in 1964, but had to rename his group later ( The Ides of March ) because of the older rights of Tommy Jackson .
In 1967 Troy Shondell got a songwriting contract with one of the leading US music publishers Acuff-Rose , but initially wrote songs only for himself. Still Loving You , written in 1967 for Bob Luman , was re-released in 1973 with seventh place in the country -Charts to one of the greatest successes for Luman. In October 1969 Shondell moved to the management of the collecting society ASCAP , where he took over the post of Assistant Regional Director in the Nashville Southern Regional Office.
After Shondell retired from the record business in 1970, he returned to the scene as a country singer in 1977. As a singer and producer he brought out three singles with country songs for the small label Starfox. With the title Still Loving You , which he had already composed for Bob Luman in 1963, he returned to the US charts in 1979 and reached number 95 in the country division. In 1980 Shondell had Lovin 'You (83rd) and 1988 with I' Looking for Some New Blue Jeans (79th) two more country chart successes. He remained active beyond 2000, continued to work as a songwriter and producer and performed in oldie shows. Together with Jimmy Clanton , Ronnie Dove and Ray Peterson he appeared in the formation The Masters of Rock 'n' Roll.
Discography
Albums
| title | Catalog no. | published |
|---|---|---|
| The Many Sides of Troy Shondell | Everest 5206 | 1963 |
| This time | Sunset 1174 | 1967 |
| Still loving you | Star Fox 1020 | 1978 |
Vinyl singles
| From page | Catalog no. | published |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Shelton | ||
| smash | ||
| My Hero / Don't Send Me Away | 2001 | 10/1957 |
| Mercury | ||
| Kissin 'at the Drive-In / Yours Till I Die | 71310 | 5/1958 |
| Regis | ||
| The Trance / The Great Lover | 1001 | 9/1958 |
| mark | ||
| Goodbye Little Darlin Goodbye / Stop the World | 143 | 5/1959 |
| A Prayer and a Jukebox / The Great Lover | 145 | 5/1959 |
| Alpine | ||
| Honey Bee / Till the End of the Line | 56 | 3/1960 |
| Troy Shondell | ||
| Goldcrest | ||
| This Time / Girl After Girl | 161 | x / 1961 |
| Come on Everybody / What Are You Waiting For | 300 | x / 1964 |
| Liberty | ||
| This Time / Girl After Girl | 55353 | 7/1961 |
| Island in the Sky / Tears from an Angel | 55398 | 12/1961 |
| Na-Ne-No / Just Because | 55445 | 4/1962 |
| Everest | ||
| Gone / Some People Never Learn | 2015 | 9/1962 |
| I've Got a Woman / No Fool Like an Old Fool | 2018 | 12/1962 |
| Little Miss Tease / Trouble | 2041 | 3/1964 |
| Decca | ||
| You Can't Catch Me / Walkin 'in a Memory | 31712 | 11/1964 |
| RIC | ||
| Just Like Me / Just a Dream | 174 | 11/1965 |
| Big Windy City / I Thought That You Were Mine | 184 | 12/1965 |
| TRX | ||
| A Rose and a Baby Ruth / Here It Comes Again | 5001 | 7/1967 |
| Head Man / She's Got Everything She Needs | 5003 | 9/1967 |
| Let's Go All the Way / Let Me Love You | 5015 | 12/1968 |
| Something's Wrong in Indiana / A Rose and a Baby Ruth | 5019 | 2/1969 |
| ITTC | ||
| And We Made Love / Imitation Woman | 105 | 7/1969 |
| Cloud 9 | ||
| Angel / Take Me Woman | 133 | x / 1970 |
| Cinda | ||
| Tonight It Might Work Out / In So Deep | 71070 | 2/1971 |
| Star Fox | ||
| Still Loving You / Doctor Love | 77-2 | 2/1977 |
| Still Loving You / Imitation Woman | 77-4 | 4/1977 |
| The Way It Used to Be / Deeper and Deeper | 77-8 | 8/1977 |
| Telesonic | ||
| Lovin 'You / Single Again | 804 | x / 1980 |
Chart placements
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
Country
|
|||
| 1961 | This time |
UK22 (11 weeks) UK |
US6 (13 weeks) US |
- | |
| Tears From An Angel |
- |
US77 (6 weeks) US |
- | ||
| 1962 | Island In The Sky |
- |
US92 (1 week) US |
- | |
| 1979 | Still loving you |
- | - |
Country95 (2 weeks) Country |
|
| 1980 | (Sittin 'Here) Lovin' You |
- | - |
Country83 (4 weeks) Country |
|
| 1988 | (I'm Looking For Some) New Blue Jeans |
- | - |
Country79 (2 weeks) Country |
|
literature
- Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon . Econ Taschenbuch Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-612-26207-6 , Volume 2, p. 1359.
- Martin Popoff : Standard Catalog of American Records 1948–1991 . Krause Publications, Iola 2010, ISBN 978-1-4402-1131-7 , p. 1065.
- Günter Ehnert (Ed.): Hit Records British Chart Singles 1950–1965 Taurus Press 1995, ISBN 3-922542-32-8 , p. 159
Web links
- Literature by and about Troy Shondell in the catalog of the German National Library
- Biography at www.allmusic.com
- Discography at www.45cat.com
- Chart positions at www.musicvf.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Singer Troy Shondell, Singer of 'This Time,' Dies at Age 76
- ↑ Chart sources: UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shondell, Troy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Shelton, Gary (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American pop and country singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 14, 1940 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fort Wayne , Indiana |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 7, 2016 |
| Place of death | Picayune , Mississippi (state) |