Billy Joe Royal, a pop and country singer best known for the 1965 hit “Down in the Boondocks,” died on Tuesday. He was 73.
He hit the charts with two other songs by Joe South, “Hush” and “I Knew You When,” and ended the decade in the Top 20 with “Cherry Hill Park” (1969).
In the 1980s, after signing with Atlantic Records in Nashville, Mr. Royal turned out a steady stream of country hits, beginning with “Burned Like a Rocket,” which reached the country Top 10 in 1985 and was climbing when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. As a gesture of respect, D.J.s stopped playing the song. He followed up with “I’ll Pin a Note to Your Pillow,” a cover version of the Aaron Neville hit “Tell It Like It Is” and others.
Obit