Roy Head ► Monday Musical Appreciation

Monday Musical Appreciation - Roy HeadRoy Head — yes, that’s his real name — will always and forever be known as an entry on the list of One Hit Wonders, but what a musical hit!!!

“Treat Her Right” raced up the charts in the fall of 1965 due to its pulsating beat, driving horn riff, and a tune matched perfectly to a singing voice. However, Roy Head appears to be one of the worst lip-syncers in all of musical history and a terrible gymnast besides:

Despite the lack of subsequent hits, the Roy Head Wiki page is longer than some musicians’ pages that have far more chart toppers. It clocks on at 2195 words, not including Discography and reference links. However, it’s well worth reading to see how Head continued to reinvent himself and to adapt and change in order to continue his 60-year career in Show Biz. Here’s a highlight:

Monday Musical Appreciation - Roy Head

Head achieved fame as a member of a musical group out from San Marcos, Texas known as The Traits. The group’s sponsor landed their first recording contract in 1958 with TNT Music in San Antonio while they were still in high school. The Traits performed and recorded in the rockabilly, rock and roll and rhythm and blues musical styles from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. Though landing several regional hits between 1959 and 1963 on both the TNT and Renner Record labels, Head is best known for the 1965 blue-eyed soul international hit, “Treat Her Right” released by Roy Head and the Traits. After going solo, Head landed several hits on the Country and Western charts between 1975 and 1985. During his career of some 50 years, he has performed in several different musical genres and used a somewhat confusing array of record labels, some too small to provide for national marketing and distribution. Roy Head and the Traits held reunions in 2001 and 2007 and were inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2007. One of the most gifted performers of his era, Head’s extraordinary dancing and acrobatic showmanship are legendary, often compared to the likes of Elvis Presley or James Brown.

CanCon Corner: Here’s Roy Head singing on the stage, and writhing on the floor, backed up by The Danny Marks Band at the Cadillac Lounge in Toronto 6 years ago.

 ROCK and ROLL is here to stay!!!

About Headly Westerfield

Calling himself “A liberally progressive, sarcastically cynical, iconoclastic polymath,” Headly Westerfield has been a professional writer all his adult life.