Roy Head
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Roy Head (born January 1, 1941, Three Rivers, Texas) is an American singer, best known for his hit "Treat Her Right."
After moving to San Marcos, Texas, in 1955, he formed his first group, The Traits, in 1957. The original group consisted of Roy Head (vocals), Tommy Bolton (rhythm guitar) (1941-2003), Gerry Gibson (drums), Dan Buie (piano), Clyde Causey (lead guitar), and Bill Pennington (bass). When Causey joined the military he was replaced by George Frazier (1941-1996) just before the band started their recording career at Tanner N Texas (TNT) Recording Company, located in San Antonio, Texas.[1] Roy Head and The Traits had several regional hits at TNT with songs such as "One More Time", "Live It Up", both released in 1959, and "Summertime Love" (1960),[2] and established themselves in the late 1950s and the early 1960s as one of the premier teenage Texas-based rock n roll bands while playing the concert, sock hop, college and university and dance hall circuits throughout Texas. In 1962-1963 additional Texas/regional hits were released by Roy Head and The Traits from Renner Records with their versions of "Linda Lou” and "Got My Mojo Working".
In 1965 the band signed with Huey Meaux of Back Beat Records. "Treat Her Right" reached #2 on both the US Pop and R&B charts in 1965, behind the Beatles' "Yesterday." "Treat Her Right", with its blazing horns and punchy rhythm, credited to Roy Head and bass man Gene Kurtz, established Roy Head as a prime exponent of "blue-eyed soul." "Just A Little Bit" and the rockabilly styled "Apple Of My Eye" also cracked the Top 40 in 1965.
Video clips from this time period show Head to have been a dynamic and versatile eccentric dancer; there are at least three extant clips of him performing "Treat Her Right" and each one is different than the others in terms of choreography. Modern viewers have compared his jumps and slides to those of James Brown or even the Nicholas Brothers; because he was white but his footwork included moves popular among African American gymnastic dancers, he was sometimes said to be a practioner of "blue-eyed soul."
Unfortunately, the chart-makers recorded and released on the Back Beat and Scepter labels spelled the end of Head's association with what has come to be thought of as the “second group” of Traits. See "Doubled Edged Sword" in The Story of Roy Head and The Traits
Later releases on Dunhill and Elektra contained elements of rockabilly and psychedelic rock, but by the mid 1970s his solo career had led him to country. He signed first with Mega Records and then with Shannon Records and later on with ABC Records and Elektra Records. Between the mid 1970s and the mid 1980s, Roy Head's music reached the US C&W Top 100 24 times. In 1975 he had a US C&W Top 20 hit with "The Most Wanted Woman in Town" and again in 1981 with "Come To Me," which reached the C&W Top 40.
Even the earliest blues-laced, rockabilly styled recordings of Roy Head and The Traits have demonstrated lasting power by continuing to make periodic surges into the Top 100 in various parts of Europe. Discographies reveal that some of the music originally written, composed and recorded by the Traits at TNT between 1958 and 1961 has been re-released over the past four decades numerous times by as many as 15 different recording companies both in the US and abroad. One such compilation album was released as late as 2007. After the 1967 disbanding of the Roy Head Trio consisting of Head, Gibson, Kurtz and David "Hawk" Koon, Head started pursueing his solo career, and Gerry Gibson, the drummer for the original Traits, would go on to become a member of several other popular groups including a stay with Sly and The Family Stone where he made notable contributions to a new style of music referred to at the time as "funkadelic."
Roy Head and The Traits are listed among "The 200 Greatest Rock N Roll Artists Of The 1960s". Most lists of the "Top 500 Rock N Roll Songs" ever recorded include "Treat Her Right". Roy Head is a member of the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame, the Texas Country and Western Music Hall of Fame and the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame. In October 2007 at their "sold out" Golden Anniversary Concert at Texas State University in San Marcos, Roy Head and The (original) Traits were inducted into the international Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Musicians for the concert were Traits Roy Head, Gerry Gibson, Dan Buie, Clyde Causey, Bill Pennington and Gene Kurtz, with special guests Bill York, Don Hutchko, Don Head and Sundance Head. In 2008, Roy Head performed in Cleveland, OH for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Some music historians have observed that Head's versatility actually worked against him since he did not fit into any specific marketing niche. His use of many small record labels also prevented his recordings from achieving national distribution.
Head continues to be active in recording and performing music.
His son, Jason "Sundance" Head, was a contestant on Season 6 of American Idol and has recently signed a recording contract with Universal Motown Records where he and Sabrina Sloan, another American Idol 6 contestant, plan to release a duet CD in late 2007 or early 2008.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Roy Head and the Traits (1965, TNT)
- Ahead of His Time (1968, Dot)
- Same People (1970, Dunhill)
- Dismal Prisoner (1972, TMT)
- Head First (1976, ABC/Dot)
- Ahead of His Time (1976, ABC/Dot)
- Tonight's the Night (1977, ABC)
- In Our Room (1979, Elektra)
- The Many Sides of Roy Head (1980, Elektra)
- White Texas Soul Shouter (1999, Edsel)
- Country Crooner (1999, Edsel)
[edit] Compilations
- Slip Away: His Best Recordings (1993, Collectables)
- Treat Her Right: The Best of Roy Head (1995, Varese)
- The Texas Soul and Country Man: The Crazy Cajun Recordings (1999, Edsel)
- Teeny Weeny Bit (2000, Aim)
- Head On! (2001, Music Club)
- An Introduction to Roy Head (2006, Fuel 2000)
