Roy Hamilton – Singer

 
The Impossible Dream

Hamilton’s booming baritone voice made him a 50s hitmaker singing gospel-flavored pop songs. In the late 40s, Hamilton honed his singing skills in a church choir and as a member of its offshoot quartet, the Searchlight Singers. He won a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre in 1947, but it was not until 1953 that he was discovered singing in a New Jersey club by Bill Cook, an influential local disc jockey who became the singer’s manager.

Hamilton’s very first record for Columbia Records’ subsidiary Epic, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone, became an R&B number 1 and national US Top 30 hit in 1954, and it shot Hamilton to fame (the song would also later become the UK hit for Gerry And The Pacemakers in 1963). There followed for Hamilton a long string of singles that reached both R&B and pop audiences, notably ‘If I Loved You, ‘Ebb Tide’ and ‘Hurt’ (all three 1954), and ‘Unchained Melody’ (an R&B number 1, 1955).

Hamilton’s songbook was built from the most popular entertainments of the day; ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone and ‘If I Loved You were two Rodgers And Hammerstein songs taken from their musical Carousel, and ‘Unchained Melody’ came from a Warner Brothers film, Unchained. Hamilton retired during 1956-58 owing to exhaustion, but when he came back he had adopted the harder gospel sound of his youth to compete with rock ‘n’ roll and the emerging soul sound. Best reflecting the change in style were the singles ‘Don’t Let Go (1958) and his last hit record, ‘You Can Have Her (1961), plus the album Mr. Rock And Soul in 1962. The Epic label treated Hamilton as a major pop star and issued 16 albums by the artist.

During the mid-60s, his career sank while recording with MGM Records and then RCA Records, and he died not long after suffering a stroke in 1969.

 
 
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Roy Hamilton Jr. IS HONORED TO BE FEATURED IN THE SPRING ISSUE OF “THE TURNING POINT MAGAZINE: Your Lifestyle, Your Well-Being By The Fabulous, Chief Editor Esther Austin remembering his Legendary Dad Roy GoldenBoy Hamilton. February 2022

A man paying tribute to his father. This is Roy Hamilton Jr.

LINKS

 
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Hamilton
 
http://royhamilton.net/
 
http://www.last.fm/music/Roy+Hamilton
 
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358141/bio
 
https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/elvis-not-racist.shtml#sthash.6Rq1fExO.dpbs

 

http://xpngospelroots.org/roy-hamilton/

 
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ARCHIVIST, EDUCATOR, HISTORIAN, and ARTiST
Dale Ricardo Shields is a 2017 winner of The Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award®, 2017 and 2015 Tony® award nominee for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, the 2017 AUDELCO/"VIV" Special Achievement Award, 2020, 2021, and 2022 ENCORE AWARD / The Actors Fund and winner of the 2022.

Recently, he won the 2022 Legend Award from his alma mater Ohio University.

He is the 2021 winner of the Paul Robeson Award, presented (jointly) by the Actors Equity Association and the Actors Equity Foundation.

Research Accomplishments:
His extensive professional credits as a Director, Stage manager, and Actor (Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and Regional) As an actor he has appeared on Saturday Night Live, Another World, Guiding Light, The Cosby Show, and the ITV television series "Special Needs" and commercials and film.

Professor Shields is a member of the Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and the American Guild of Musical Artists performance unions and an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

He began his artistic academic career in New York City at Playwrights Horizon, The South Bronx Action Theatre, and Mind Builders, and then was invited to join the teaching staff at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre (New York Shakespeare Festival). He represented the United States for Theatre Young Audiences at the ASSITEJ Theatre Festival in London, England.

He has been a Professor and Visiting Artist at Ohio University, The College of Wooster, Denison University, Macalester College, Randolph- Macon College, Susquehanna University, and SUNY Potsdam.

He holds B.F.A and M.F.A, Degrees from Ohio University.

Website(s)

Iforcolor.org [Research]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Ricardo_Shields [Career]