This morning I happened across this little gem on eBay: a 45 from the late 1950s of an instrumental hit called Poor Boy by The Royaltones.
According to The History Of Top 40 Saxophone Solos 1955-2012, John Laughter and Steve D. Marshall note that in 1958, Poor Boy by the Royaltones peaked at #17 in the charts, with George Katsakis playing the tenor sax solo.
Since I was curious what it sounded like, I went to YouTube and found this video of the Royaltones appearing on American Bandstand…
Mmm… Interesting… I must admit, based on their sound I would have thought there was a baritone in the mix as well. All in all I found this tune rather, how shall I say it… Uninspiring… Not to mention the dance moves. Was I that lame too? 😳
The members who performed on American Bandstand that day were: Mike & Greg Popoff,(piano & drums) Bob Sanderson (guitar) Ken Anderson (sax) and George Katsakis on the sax solo.
It you poke around on YouTube you will find lots of other Royaltones recordings. As I listened to them I came across some really great tracks. Perhaps my favourite was Flamingo Express from 1960. BTW, this was the group’s only other Billboard hit. It peaked at #82 in early 19611.
The Royaltones were founded in 1957 by saxophonist George Katsakis, and in the end he was the group’s only constant by the time they disbanded in 1964. Sadly they disbanded without ever achieving the level of success that their talent should have allowed.
Like so many bands before and since, The Royaltones struggled a great deal. There were a lot of personnel changes, and management issues plagued the group as well. To read the full history of The Royaltones, check out their page on the Rockabilly page.
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1 The Royaltones rockabilly.nl
