Roy C | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Roy Charles Hammond |
| Born | (1939-08-03)August 3, 1939 Newington, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | September 16, 2020(2020-09-16) (aged 81) Allendale County, South Carolina, U.S. |
| Genres | Soul,R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer writer, composer, producer |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Website | roycmusic |
Roy Charles Hammond (August 3, 1939 – September 16, 2020), better known asRoy C orRoy "C", was an Americansouthern soul singer, songwriter and record executive, best known for his 1965hit, "Shotgun Wedding". Another song, "Impeach the President", which he recorded and produced with a high school group, the Honey Drippers, has had one of the most sampled drum tracks inhip hop music.[1]
Roy Hammond was born inNewington, Georgia. He began singingtenor with The Genies, a vocal group inLong Beach,Long Island, who were later offered arecording contract byrecord producerBob Shad. Their firstsingle, "Who's That Knockin'", reached number 72 on theBillboard Hot 100chart in 1958,[2] with Claude Johnson—later of theduoDon and Juan—on lead vocal. The group then moved toAtlantic Records, with Hammond taking over as lead singer, but theirrecordings were not released, and he was drafted into theAir Force.
When he returned toNew York City in 1965, Hammond organised a studio session to record his own song, "Shotgun Wedding", and released it under the name Roy Hammond on his own Hammondlabel, before leasing it to the larger Black Hawk Records under the name Roy C.[3] The record, with its novelty ricochet opening and subject matter that was relatively risqué for the time, reached number 14 on the nationalBillboardR&B chart.[2] It had even greater success when issued in the United Kingdom, reaching number 6 on theUK Singles Chart in 1966 and number 8 when reissued in 1972.[4] His first album,That Shotgun Wedding Man, was released onEmber Records in 1966.[2]
After some unsuccessful follow-ups on theShout label, Hammond started another new label, Alaga.[3] Working with guitarist J. Hines, he had more success with "Got to Get Enough (Of Your Sweet Love Stuff)" making the R&B charts in 1971.[3] Two years later he signed withMercury Records, and had another R&B hit with "Don't Blame the Man".[3] He also released an album,Sex and Soul, and several more minor hit singles. He stayed with Mercury for several years, until label bosses took exception to his outspoken political stance in songs, including "Great Great Grandson of a Slave" from his 1977 albumMore Sex and More Soul.[1]
ReviewingSex and Soul inChristgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981),Robert Christgau wrote, "Roy Hammond is a driven artist—he cut this in his garage—and his compulsiveness comes out in the lyrics; despite convincing asides aboutracism andVietnam, his title ought to beInfidelity and Suffering. The songs are raw and outspoken, and the suffering's in the voice even more than the words—he strains its paradoxically mellow limits sometimes, so seekers after the Perfect Note should seek elsewhere. But oldSwamp Dogg fans will put aside theirfeminist reservations and learnhow the other half lives."[5]
In 1973, Hammond discovered a group of African-American high school students fromJamaica High School inJamaica, Queens, named the Honey Drippers (not to be confused with Robert Plant's project of the same name), and decided to record some songs with them, which he released on his Alaga label. Most notable among the songs they recorded was "Impeach the President", a song advocating for the impeachment of PresidentRichard Nixon due to the ongoingWatergate scandal and resultingimpeachment process against Richard Nixon.[1]
Pioneeringhip hop producerMarley Marl used the drum intro from "Impeach the President" as thebreakbeat for the 1985 song "The Bridge" byMC Shan.[6] The opening drum sequence has since become one of the most widely used samples in hip hop.[1] American rapperGZA makes a reference to the "Impeach the President" sample on his verse on "As High as Wu-Tang Get" byWu-Tang Clan on the 1997 albumWu-Tang Forever, with the suggestion that the snare drum in the sample is easy to rap over. ("You can't flow, must be the speech impediment / You got lost off the snare off 'Impeach the President.'")
Hammond has occasionally been credited as a co-writer due to the sample, including on the hitMary J. Blige song "Real Love", which samples the drum track from "Top Billin'" byAudio Two, which in turn uses a modified form of the drum intro from "Impeach the President". He is also credited for the 2011Kanye West andJay-Z song "Otis", which uses a line from "Top Billin'", and for the 2013Frank Ocean song "Super Rich Kids", which interpolates the chorus of "Real Love". Neither "Otis" nor "Super Rich Kids" contain a sample from "Impeach the President".
From 1979, he continued to release a string of soul singles and albums, on his own Three Gemsrecord label, initially based inNew York and later inAllendale,South Carolina. Hammond wrote most of the songs that appear on his over 125 records.[2] He recorded an album by ex-TemptationDennis Edwards entitledTalk to Me, and also worked on aCD by Bobby Stringer.[2] Hammond also ran his ownrecord shop in Allendale, called Carolina Record Distributors.
"Infidelity, Georgia," also known as "Save by the Bell" or "Saved by the Bell," is a song about sexual infidelity in small town Georgia.[7] Hammond released an album entitledStella Lost Her Groove in March 1999.[8]
Singles
Albums
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