The FIVE ROYALES was an R&B group from Winston-Salem, NC. The group combined gospel, jump blues and doo-wop. In the process, from their beginning, they were very influential in the EVOLUTION OF ROCK AND ROLL AND SOUL MUSIC.
In the early 1950s it wasn't uncommon for the group to hold as many as the top five spots on the R&B charts:
October 30, 1953 FIVE ROYALES R&B charted hits:
#1
"Baby Don't Do It"
B/W with"Help Me Somebody" also at #1
#4
"Too Much Lovin"
And with "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy" at #5
CHECK OUT THIS NPR INTERVIEW WHERE STEVE CROPPER DISCUSSES THE GROUP AS WELL AS HIS OWN
Johnny Guitar Watson's ferocious "Space Guitar" of 1954 pioneered guitar feedback and reverb. Watson would later influence a subsequent generation of guitarists. His song "Gangster of Love" was first released on Keen Records in 1957. It did not appear in the charts at the time, but later became a hit in 1978 and identified as Watson's "most famous song".
I met Robby Stawinski shortly after the demise ofthe Detroit band SKY:
The group SKY, featuring Doug Fieger (vocalist and bassist), John Coury (guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist), and Rob Stawinski (drummer and vocalist) started out as their members finished high school in the Detroit, Michigan area. They earned a local following after serving as an opening act for popular groups such as Jethro Tull, The Who, Joe Cocker, Bob Seger, and The Stooges; and also playing with Traffic numerous times. The group put out two albums on RCA, 1970’s Don't Hold Back (Note: Rob Stawinski did not play on this album) and
1970's Sailor's Delight (both produced in England by the Rolling Stones' producer, Jimmy Miller). Sky broke up shortly aftertheir second album's release.
Shortly after SKY broke up, the incredibly talented Robby Stawinski was drumming around the Ann Arbor/Detroit area with a better than average bar band which went by the name of SATIVA. I met SATIVA, and thereby Robby Stawinski, when they were playing at Ann Arbor’s (Infamous) ODYSSEY LOUNGE. That was in 1971.
With his background of being a member of SKY and the fact that he was operatingso far above the talent level of the rest of SATIVA (although they were a great bar band), it was obvious that Rob wasn’t far from the “Big Time” It wasn’t long before he was out of the bars and touring as the drummer for the British group BADFINGER, touring with Rod Stewart’s Faces, starting in the Spring of 1972
I contacted Rob the other day and was happy to know that he’s doing well. I’d asked, “Rob Stawinski? Sky, Sativa, Badfinger Rob Stawinski?” His reply was simply “Yes, that R.S.”
ROB STAWINSKI—YOU ROCK!!!
In order to avoid any copywriters infringement on my part, check out this 2004interview by Tom Brennen…
In the late 1940s, Dizzy Gillespie, in a large way due to his association with the Cuban percussionist, Chano Pozo,
was instrumental in the Afro-Cuban music movement. Afro-Latin American music and elements garnered greater prominence in jazz and pop music asa result of this movement, Afro-Cuban jazz is based on traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms.
Dizzy Gillespie was introduced to Chano Pozo in 1947 by Mario Bauza, a Latin jazz trumpet player. Pozo became Gillespie's conga drummer. Dizzy Gilespie also worked with Mario Bauza in New York jazz clubs on 52nd street and several famous dance clubs such as Palladium and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They played together in the Chick Webb band and Cab Calloway's band, where Gillespie and Bauza became life-long friends. In the process, Dizzy helped develop and mature the Afro-Cuban jazz style.
Afro-Cuban jazz was considered bebop-oriented, and some musicians classified it as a modern style. Afro-Cuban jazz was successful because it never decreased in popularity and it always attracted people to dance to its unique rhythms.
MANTECA is Dizzy’s signature Afro-Cuban influenced masterpiece. Co-written with Chano Pozo in the late 1940s, it has endured the ages...
Recently I was chastised by a Facebook friend of mine for never posting tunes by The Dave Clark Five (You know who you are, Pamela!) As a part of that chastisement she compared the “DC5” to The Beatles; specifically she stated, “(but) if memory servesthey were the only "british invasion" (sic) group to give the Beatles a run for their money in terms of hits."
Let’s do a little comparison:
BEATLES:During the week of 4 April 1964, The Beatles held twelve positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five positions. Neither feat has been matched by any other artist to date. The top five songs were "Can't Buy Me Love" (Capitol Records), "Twist and Shout" (Tollie Records), "She Loves You" (Swan Records), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Capitol), and "Please Please Me." (Vee-Jay). In addition, seven other singles occupied lower places on the chart; for instance...
By the time it was all over (the breakup of the Dave Clark Five in 1970), they had sold 50 million records. THAT’S A LOT OF RECORDS!!!
But, did they really give The Beatles” a “run for their money in the terms of hits”
NOT EVEN CLOSE!!!
In 1964, the Beatles had the never-matched total of 15 American million - selling records (9 singles and 6 LP's), representing US sales of over 25 million in 1964 alone.
(DC5 had seven hits for the whole year of 1964—And that’s not bad!)
"Can’t Buy Me Love" sold 940,225 copies in the US the day it was released (March 16, 1964), shattering all previous sales records. The single went on to sell over 3 million by the end of the year
By August 1966, the Beatles had sold 150 million records worldwide; according to the Guinness Book of Records, the Beatles had topped worldwide sales of 300 million units by 1969 AND by October 1972, the Beatles’ worldwide sales total stood at 545 million units.
This is just a bit of the reason why THE BEATLES (originally a skiffle band out of Liverpoole) was just a tad more popular than THE DAVE CLARK FIVE (another skiffle band out of England)
Of course after their induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and the selling of one of their top tunes to the Glad Wrap people, I'm sure that the survivors of the band are GLAD ALL OVER, hey the tune knocked THE BEATLES off the top of the chart (ONCE!!!) AND THAT WAS A BIG DEAL!!!
