Then and Now, “Everybody” Really Loves Tommy Roe – Part Two
In part one of our interview with Tommy Roe, he reminisced about growing up in Atlanta with a musical bunch of pals, touring with the Beatles in England, and ultimately hitting the pause button on his career for a stint in the military. In part two, he comes out of the Army to face the effects of the British Invasion and emerges as the “King of Bubblegum.”
So after the army, the music scene had changed, as you say. Is that why you reinvented yourself to a degree?
After the Beatles, so many British acts came to America and just pushed the American acts off the Billboard charts. When I was in the Army, I was thinking, “When I get out of here, I have to go do a session. How am I going to survive all these British acts? They’re coming in with this different sound.” Honestly, I think if I hadn’t written my own material, I would have had a very difficult time surviving the so-called British Invasion.
I consciously made a decision to start writing what I called at the time “soft rock,” which turned out to be what the DJs would call “bubblegum music.” So I wrote “Sweet Pea” when I was in the Army, and when I got out, I went to LA and recorded it with that soft-rock sound. I think that’s how I was able to continue having hits in the ’60s, because I had to maneuver my sound so it wasn’t like everyone else’s. The bubblegum thing was fresh and new and fit right in with everything because no one else was doing it at the time. After a while, they started calling me the “King of Bubblegum.”
Did you find it a problem being called that?
I did at the time. I was in my mid-20s, and my ego was on my sleeve and a little derogatory remark about my music back then would really set me off. So, in the beginning, I resented it, but the interesting thing was that the Beatles were really the first bubblegum artists. If you think about it, look at their audience in Washington and so on. They’re all teen and pre-teen kids bouncing up and down. We were all playing to the same audience, but my sound was so different that the DJs just had tag it with something, and bubblegum was what they tagged me with. But today, I walk onstage and sing “Sweet Pea” and see a smile on the faces of the audience, and I think, “What’s wrong with that?” I mean, they’re having a good time, and they love this little song I wrote, so call it whatever you want to call it. If it makes people happy, that’s what it’s all about. That’s part of entertaining.
I agree. I mean, I was a kid when “Dizzy,” for example, hit #1, and I remember it quite well. It’s feel-good music – it does make you feel good when you hear it.
It does. My wife will be out and she’ll be talking to a stranger in Whole Foods Market or somewhere, and she’ll be talking about acting or something [Note: Roe’s wife is Golden Globe-winning actress Josette Banzet] and she’ll say, “You know, I’m married to Tommy Roe.” And she says every time she says my name, a smile will come across the person’s face, and they’ll say “’Sweet Pea!’ ‘Dizzy!’ Yeah, I remember him.” So, yeah, it’s kind of cool to know you put a spark of happiness in someone’s heart for what you created.
You mentioned “Sweet Pea.” Is there any back story to “Sweet Pea”?
Not really. I was in the Army, and I was trying to come up with something different. I can’t really remember how I got that title. I always started my songs with a title. After “Sweet Pea” it was “Hooray for Hazel.” I got the idea while watching the television program Hazel. I used to love the show and was watching it one evening and just picked up the guitar and started writing “Hooray for Hazel.” And then, of course, “Dizzy” was a title I came up with. I started writing it and couldn’t finish it, and we were doing a tour with Paul Revere and the Raiders, and we finished our gig one night and were travelling all night to the next city, and so I told Freddy Weller, “Look I’ve got this song ‘Dizzy’ and I can’t finish it.” So we worked all night traveling on that bus and finished it. Then when I got back to LA, I recorded it. It was one of the few records I made that when I left the studio, I knew it was a hit. I knew it would be big. With the other records, you were never sure. You didn’t know if the DJs would play them, but I knew “Dizzy” would be big. It was released, and it was like overnight it was one of the fastest rising records in the history of singles. It went to #34 on the charts and from there to the Top 10. It skyrocketed to the top of the charts.
You said you felt pretty good when you came out of the studio. Did any of your hits surpass what you thought they’d do?
Yeah, I think “Hooray for Hazel.” It was the follow up to “Sweet Pea,” and usually follow ups tend not to be as successful. Back then, the record companies would push the artists to follow up a hit with a song that was similar to the hit. It was a constant battle between the record company executives and me to make every follow up a sound-alike. I really felt like we were wasting a release because the follow-up would never be as big as the original. I was always fighting that battle. Right after “Sheila,” I put out a song called “Piddly Pat” with the same sound, and it didn’t do anything. Finally, I got “Everybody” released, and it was so different, and that’s why it caught on. But “Hooray for Hazel” was different because even though it was a follow up, it turned out to be a Top 10 record as well.
It’s interesting you’d say that, because I interviewed Jay Proctor of Jay and the Techniques, and he talked about how frustrated he was because they kept wanting the same song from him; “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie,” to “Keep the Ball Rollin’,” to “Strawberry Shortcake,” and so on. It was a problem for him because each sound-alike performed worse than the one before. But you seem to have negotiated that problem well, because you fought for what you wanted to do and didn’t get trapped doing the same thing over and over.
Well, because I wrote my own material, I wasn’t fighting a losing battle like some artists did. Otherwise, the label would find your songs for you and then you were at their mercy.
I’ll tell you a song you did I really liked, and that was “Jack and Jill.” I was surprised it didn’t chart higher than it did.
It was a big hit in Canada. It’s still requested there a lot, and since I normally don’t do it in my show, I have to prepare for it. It was a well-made record, but it just didn’t do as well as some of the others. I had “Dizzy,” then “Heather Honey,” and then “Jack and Jill” came along and it just fell a little flat. You never know why those things happen.
I watched a video of you performing in Liverpool in late 2014 and saw you doing “Dizzy” and “Everybody,” and it sounds great. I’ve talked to and heard performers who, as they’ve grown older, just don’t sound like they used to. The energy is not there. You sound absolutely unbelievable. Your voice is still strong and you look like you’re in incredibly good shape. How do you do it?
It’s good genes, I guess. You know, thinking back to the ’60s, the drug scene was huge, but I never got into drugs, and while sometimes that closed some doors to me because I didn’t fit in with certain types of music, it helped me take care of myself. I’ll be 73 in May, and I love what I do. I still sing everything in the same key — I haven’t dropped a key like some people have — and I still feel the energy. I just really enjoy it, and I’m just really blessed to be able to do it. My grandfather on my mother’s side was 100 years old when he passed, and grandmother on my father’s side was 96, my dad was 94. Longevity seems to be a trait in my family, so if I can keep from getting hit by a truck, maybe I’ll be around a while!
Do you think you’ll continue on unabated, just doing shows?
Yeah, but I’m not barnstorming like I used to. I can’t handle 100 days a year anymore, but I’m doing it how I want to do it now. I do it because I want to, not because I have to, and that gives you a whole different attitude. When I was doing over 100 dates a year I did a lot I didn’t want to because I had a payroll to make with eight to 10 people working for me. Now I choose things I want to do, do my singles show of about an hour and 10 minutes and have a little Q&A in the middle. I go into the audience and take questions. It’s fun, and I get close to the fans, and it’s great.
For more on Tommy Roe, including his tour schedule, visit his official website or find him on Facebook.
