The Royaltones - I Give You My Word 1956

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The Royaltones (Brooklyn, New York)

The Royaltones Started singing about 1953 and the members of the group, which we named the Barons, were: Joseph "Lucky" Saddler (tenor), Rennie Davis (first tenor), Richard "Ricky" Williams (bass), and myself, James "Skippy" Ifill (second tenor). We'd sing on the corner, in the Boys' High schoolyard in Brooklyn, New York hallways, each other's houses, anywhere and everywhere. In the summer of 1954 Joe Saddler went into the Air Force and Thomas "Munjew" Davis (baritone - Rennie's brother) joined the group.

We started singing at house parties and finally ran into our first manager, Celeste Holmes, who got us singing at a few clubs, but nothing really materialized. After four or five months, we decided our manager wasn't doing anything for us, so we tried to get work on our own. We sang in local clubs for nothing, hoping someone would discover us or hear about us. Then, in the summer of 1955, we went from a quartet to a quintet when Eddie "Puddin'" Carson joined.

Because of Eddie's high voice, we arranged all our material so he could lead and changed our name to the Royaltones. Then we ran into a guy named Erthel "Tico" Bryant, who really wasn't into the music business, but was willing to run around to different clubs to get us to work. We got a lot of local work in clubs like the Baby Grand in Brooklyn, the Riviera, Anthony's Cafe, the Elks Club on Fulton Street, dances and parties. The pay was next to nothing, but we were doing what we loved to do and having a lot of fun. When you're young, the most important thing is glory, which shows how naive we were then. Tico had a tape recorder, and we taped a few songs to take to different companies.

Our first stop was 701 Seventh Avenue, the office of Old Town Records. We never got any farther. We were signed right away by Sam & Hy Weiss and in November of 1955 cut four sides: "Crazy Love," "Never Let Me Go," "Latin Love" and "Hey rman!" EDITOR'S NOTE: the actual recording date was January 3, 1956; the February 11 edition of Billboard trumpeted that "Sammy Weiss" had held the first Royaltones' session.]

While we were recording our first four sides, Ruth McFadden was also doing some recording, and it was decided that we would do some back-up work. She recorded "Two In Love" and we backed her up, only on that one side. [EDITOR'S NOTE: While there's a group on the flip side, "You For Me," it doesn't sound like the Royaltones (and James said they only backed her on a single side). Unfortunately, Old Town master numbers are useless. It was probably recorded another day with another group.]

"Crazy Love" was our first release February 1956 and the side that was pushed, but we wanted the "B" side "Never Let Me Go" to be pushed. We quickly found out how much say we had in the matter: none! But we were so happy to be recording, it didn't really matter.

Right away, we signed to do the Alan Freed show at the Brooklyn Paramount. We thought we were on our way. The headliners were Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, the Platters, the Flamingos, the Solitaires, the Cleftones, the Willows, Fats Domino, the Valentines, Ruth McFadden, and many more. EDITOR'S NOTE: others were the Rover Boys, the Jodimars, Cindy & Lindy, Dori Anne Gray, and the Alan Freed Orchestra with Sam "The Man" Taylor and Big Al Sears. We were really on cloud nine. Nothing could stop us now, we thought. That was one of the best shows I think they ever had - the crowd was unbelievable.

One day, Richard Williams and I went out after a show and got caught trying to get back to The Paramount, by (it looked like) thousands of R&R fans. I said to Ricky, "Damn, I can't write my name that many times," so we made a dash for the stage door. I lost a coat sleeve and all the buttons on my coat - it was scary. Right after that it was up to Hartford, Connecticut's State Theater for the Tommy Smalls "Dr. Jive" show.

"Crazy Love" did fairly well in New York, it went to #4 on the Alan Freed program and in the Top 50 in Billboard magazine, but when we went to collect royalties, Old Town said we owed them money! EDITOR'S NOTE: Neither Royaltones record was sent to the trades for review.

We did well for about six months, doing mostly dances. During that time, we went back into the studio to do four more sides, "I Give You My Word," "Hong Kong Jelly Wong," "Do You Remember" and "A Castle In The Sky" (not The Bopchords' tune). EDITOR'S NOTE: These were recorded sometime in the summer of 1956. Both "I Give You My Word" and "Hong Kong Jelly Wong" have since surfaced on Old Town compilations issued by Ace Records. Their second record, "Latin Love"/"Hey Norman!" was issued in August.

Because of a dispute with the Weiss Brothers, the last four cuts were never released, and it was all downhill from there. After a year of no work and no records, we broke up.