Country singer Billy Joe Royal, of Down In The Boondocks fame, dies at age 73
Billy Joe Royal, a pop singer who popularized the song Down in the Boondocks, and crossed over into country music, has died.
The award winning singer was 73 years old at the time of his death.
His agent, Brent Taylor, said Royal died at his home on Tuesday in Morehead City, North Carolina.
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Legend: Billy Joe Royal, a pop singer who popularized the song Down in the Boondocks, and crossed over into country music, has died (pictured in 1970)
The Georgia-born singer debuted on Columbia Records with Down in the Boondocks in 1965, which reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.
But he struggled to match his initial success with his subsequent records and starting in the late 1980s, he reinvented himself as a country singer.
He was known for songs like I'll Pin a Note on Your Pillow, Tell it Like it is, and Till I Can't Take it Anymore.
Popular: He experienced a late and unexpected resurgence among millennials in the 2000s (pictured in 2011)
He was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
Initially Royal found recognition as a star at the Bamboo Ranch during the 1950s and 1960s in Savannah.
He experienced a late and unexpected resurgence among millennials in the 2000s.
This significant, and what some consider second major period in his music popularity, was due to regular airplay on oldies stations.
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![In the November issue, GQ¿s Chuck Klosterman interrogates the most popular human alive. The press release and link to the full story and photoshoot on the beach in Malibu is below. Attached please find approved press image and cover. As always to use the inside image you must also show the cover. Photo credit is Michael Thompson exclusively for GQ. \n\nFOR RELEASE: October 15, 2015\n \n \nTAYLOR SWIFT ON PROTECTING THE SUBJECTS OF HER SONGS, \nTHE ACCUSATION THAT SHE¿S ¿CALCULATING,¿ AND LEANRING TO FIND HAPPINESS\n ¿There is such a thing as having enough¿ after ten years, you learn to appreciate happiness when it happens, and that happiness is rare and fleeting, and that you¿re not entitled to it.¿\n\nNew York, N.Y.¬¬¬¿¿You¿re in a[n] interview, and the writer says, ¿Who is that song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.¿ And you sit there, and you know you¿re on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don¿t want him¿or his family¿to think you¿re firing s](http://web.archive.org/web/20151016164304im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/16/07/2D76473400000578-0-image-m-72_1444977499343.jpg)
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![In the November issue, GQís Chuck Klosterman interrogates the most popular human alive. The press release and link to the full story and photoshoot on the beach in Malibu is below. Attached please find approved press image and cover. As always to use the inside image you must also show the cover. Photo credit is Michael Thompson exclusively for GQ.
FOR RELEASE: October 15, 2015
TAYLOR SWIFT ON PROTECTING THE SUBJECTS OF HER SONGS,
THE ACCUSATION THAT SHEíS ìCALCULATING,î AND LEANRING TO FIND HAPPINESS
ìThere is such a thing as having enoughÖ after ten years, you learn to appreciate happiness when it happens, and that happiness is rare and fleeting, and that youíre not entitled to it.î
New York, N.Y.¨¨¨óìYouíre in a[n] interview, and the writer says, ëWho is that song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.í And you sit there, and you know youíre on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you donít want himóor his familyóto think youíre firing shots at him](http://web.archive.org/web/20151016164304im_/http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/10/15/14/2D7102A600000578-0-image-m-24_1444916031123.jpg)
