Sunday 14 May 2017

Troy Shondell born 14 May 1940


Gary Wayne Schelton (May 14, 1939 – January 7, 2016), known by his stage name Troy Shondell, was an American vocalist, who achieved a modicum of fame and recognition in the early 1960s. He became a transatlantic one-hit wonder, by releasing a single that made the record charts in both the US and the UK. The song, "This Time" or sometimes billed as "This Time (We're Really Breaking Up)" sold over one million records, earning gold disc status. In a single year, sales were over three million copies.
Troy Shondell was born in 1939, raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and educated at Valparaiso and Indiana universities. He wrote his first song at age 14, which was recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials. He also learned to play five musical instruments. His professional music career started as a teenager. Mercury Records released his first single, "My Hero", from The Chocolate Soldier, which he recorded in 1958 under the name Gary Shelton, which was close to his real name, Gary Schelton.
He followed the next year with "Kissin' at the Drive-In", a rockabilly song that went on to become a drive-in theater standard. Still performing as Gary Shelton, he seemed to be on his way, at least in the Midwest. Chicago's Brass Rail, a major nightclub that usually hosted jazz and blues acts, brought him in for its first foray into rock and roll. The successful gig stretched to 16 weeks.
 In 1959, Mark Records released "The Trance" and "Goodbye Little Darlin'". These sold well in the Midwest and a few other areas, but neither made it into the Hot 100's Top 40. The singer cited his father as a major influence, among others. A song he wrote about his father's death in 1960 from a heart attack, "Still Loving You", became a country hit when it was recorded by Bob Luman. His father's demise caused his career to falter, and he briefly returned to help run the family business.

 
                               
Around this time, he began using a new stage name, Troy Shondell, partly because of the popularity of actor Troy Donahue. In April 1961, he recorded "This Time", a song written by Chips Moman and first recorded by Thomas Wayne. The record was released during the last week in June on the tiny Gaye label and picked up by the small Los Angeles Goldcrest label, selling ten thousand copies during the first week. Six weeks after being released and played in Chicago, Shondell flew to Los Angeles and signed with Liberty Records. "This Time"‎ finally hit the Billboard charts the third week of September and landed in the Top 10 five weeks later at its number six peak, and it stayed in the charts for a total of thirteen weeks. The track reached no. 22 in the UK Singles Chart at the end of that year.
"Tears From An Angel" was his follow-up recording, released in March 1962. No further chart action was forthcoming, and Shondell quietly slipped away from the music industry the following year, despite his third single "Na-Ne-No", being produced by Phil Spector. However, in 1963, Tommy Jackson changed the name of his high school band from "Tom and the Tornados" to "The Shondells" in honour of Shondell (one of his musical idols). Jackson became "Tommy James" and international fame followed for the act.
Troy Shondell & The Shondells
Chicago band the Ides of March originally named themselves the Shon-dells, also in tribute to Troy. Shortly before their debut single, "You Wouldn't Listen", was released, the label found out that James had been using the name first, so they were forced to change it. In 1968, Shondell became a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville, Tennessee, and the first recording artist for TRX Records, a branch of Hickory Records, for whom Troy recorded some gramophone record discs until 1969, when he went into the music publishing field. In October 1969, he was appointed as Assistant Regional Director for ASCAP's Southern Regional Office in Nashville.
At the turn of the new millennium, Shondell was still performing at nostalgia shows and other events. From his home in Nashville, he also composed and produced. Along with Jimmy Clanton, Ronnie Dove, and Ray Peterson, he was a member of the Masters of Rock 'n' Roll.
On October 2, 2007, he travelled to Collins, Mississippi, to deliver a musical tribute to his fallen rock and roll colleague Dale Houston, who, with musical partner Grace Broussard, had reached no. 1 in 1963 with "I'm Leaving It Up to You" as the musical duo Dale & Grace.
Shondell died from complications of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease in Picayune, Mississippi on January 7, 2016. (Info mainly Wikipedia)

7 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Troy Shondell – The Trance” go here:

http://www40.zippyshare.com/v/zED34FGN/file.html

01 The Trance
02 This Time
03 Young Till I Die
04 Goodbye Little Darlin' Goodbye
05 Stop The World
06 Gone
07 Girl After Girl
08 The Great Lover
09 Honey Bee
10 Till The End Of The Line
11 Some People Never Learn
12 Just Because
13 Walking In A Memory
14 Thinkin'
15 Like A Movie
16 Stiill Loving You
17 Kissin' At The Drive-In
18 I've Got It
19 Rugged Ralph The Rapid Rabbit Runner
20 Rip It Up
21 I've Got A Woman
22 Hey There Little Miss Tease
23 Island In The Sky
24 I Don't Know
25 Tears From An Angel
26 The Glider
27 Here It Comes Again
28 A Rose And A Baby Ruth
29 Na-Ne-Do

A big thank you to Jake @ Jukebox City for active link.

Pudge said...

Interesting to read how one hit record can start up a career in the music business. A talented guy that should have had a few more hits. Thank you Bob.

a3kp said...

Hello Boppin Bop

Do you have the "Rip it up" nr yet for me please?
You may do it with email if you can.
The Zippyshare site is not working anymore, i think its closed.

boppinbob said...

Still looking. Will post when found.

a3kp said...

Let it go Boppin Bob.
Merry Christmas to you my friend.

boppinbob said...

Hello. a3kp....

I couldn’t find the original file. So I was determined to get the playlist as since when I originally posted the album from “Rock It! “ blog, then there have been many Troy Shondell digital albums available.. I managed to finish this just before most of my family came round for a Christmas Eve drink. Only to find your last comment. Well as it took a considerable time to compose this I have no option but to post it.
Please be more patient in future. I try my best as I have many requests for re-ups and only a limited time per day

https://www.upload.ee/files/14773644/Troy_Shondell_-_The_Trance.rar.html

a3kp said...

No problem Boppin,i have several albums from Troy in my collection
also found these once.
Have a nice Eve tonight.