ROYAL TEENS_Believe Me

Rock' n Roll band formed in 1957 on Fort Lee NJ. by students at Bergenfiel High School;Tom Austin(Drums),Bill Dalton(Guitar),Billy Crandall(Sax) and Bob Gaudio they called themselves The Royal-Tones. In 1957 recorded the sides_Shorts Shorts/Planet Rock. in the Leo Roger's label Power Records but by a conflict with another band called The Royaltones the disc was released under the band name of The Royal Teens.

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The A side was a local hit and Leo sold the master to ABC Records for their national distribution,the song finally charted # 3 nationally in early 1958 and send the group to have great appearances on life shows,TV and in the Columbia's movie Let's Rock.in these life shows the band sporting a female vocalist.


In 1958 the band released_Big Name Button/Sharm Rock. these sides were similar to their hit but failed to attract any attention. In late 1958 Joe Frankavilla (Joey Villa) of The Three Friends(see in this blog) joined the group and ABC release their third single_Harvey's Got A Girlfriend/Hangin' Round. the A side charted a discret # 76 in the summer of 1958. followed by_Open The Door/My Kind Of Dream. but again these sides failed and the group back to Fort Lee.

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In early 1959 Bill Dalton left and Al Kooper join the band and this recorded for Power subsidiary label Mighty Records the sides_Leotards/Royal Blue. followed by_Wounded Heart/Cave Man.


_Sittin' With My Baby/Mad gass. was issued in Power Records.all thse sides have the Rock & Roll sound of their first hit and all failed in the charts for they the band decided changing their sound to the vocal group harmony sound.


In the spring of 1959 auditioned for Capitol the label signed the band and released their first single in August_Believe Me/Little Criket. the A side with a Dion & The Belmonts sound-a-like charted # 26 nationally.

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The second Capitol release_The Moon's No Meant For Lovers(Anymore)/Was It A Dream. continue with the same doo wop sound as well as the last Capitol single_It's The Talk Of The Town/With You.

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Aftet of thir Capitol recordings Kooper left the group/band and join Frank Cappola and the guys back to Mighty Records in 1961 with_Little Trixie/My Memories Of You.in 1962 the group update their first hit to the current twist craze with_Short Short Twist. on the Allnew/Jubilee label without any other success finally the group/band disbanded in 1965.


Bob Gaudio joined The Four Seasons and Joey Villa,Frank Cappola and Larry Qualiano recorded as The Bluetones on Swan/Bluejay Records the Dion Sound-a-like ballad_I'll Love You.

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Additional note;

The Royal Teens played music for The Corvells vocal group Lido tip Top Records sides_We Made A Vow/Miss Jones.

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