The Royal Teens were an American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

band that formed in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1956 and originally consisted of

Bob Gaudio Robert John Gaudio (born November 17, 1942) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, and the keyboardist and backing vocalist of the pop/rock band the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote or co-wrote the vast majority of the ban ...

on piano, Tom Austin on drums, Billy Dalton on guitar, and Billy Crandall on saxophone. The group is best known for its single "

Short Shorts "Short Shorts" is a song written and performed by Tom Austin, Bill Crandell, Bill Dalton, and Bob Gaudio, members of The Royal Teens. It reached #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, U.S. R&B chart and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, U.S. pop chart in ...

", which was a number 3 hit in the United States in 1958. The follow-up single, 1959's "Believe Me", hit number 26. They never recorded an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, and broke up in 1965.

History

The term "Short Shorts" in the song referred specifically to very short cutoff jeans as worn by teenage girls. The term appears to have originated with Bob Gaudio and Tom Austin. According to the group's website, they coined the term in 1957, and hit on using it as a song theme and title that summer when they saw two girls in cutoffs leaving a local teen spot. Originally, the group's name was simply "The Royals", but they were persuaded to add the word "Teens" in order to avoid having the same name as an existing band. The performers on the 1957

Bell Sound Studios Bell Sound Studios was an independent recording studio in New York City from 1950 to 1976. At its height, the studio was the largest independent recording studio in the United States, and the site of recording sessions that produced seminal hits b ...

recording were Bob Gaudio (piano), Tom Austin (drums and whistle effect), Billy Dalton (guitar), Billy Crandall (sax and vocal effect), and Diana Lee (a female vocalist working for Leo Rogers). The record was originally released on a private label, Power Records. The song's instant popularity led the label owner to license the production to ABC-Paramount Records. It reached number 3 on the list later known as the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The group undertook a tour. The sax player, Billy Crandall, age 14, was not allowed by his parents to tour with the group, and was replaced by Larry Qualiano. One of the other members had already graduated, and the other two took time off from high school. Some of their touring companions included

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

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Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

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, and

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American singer, actor and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including Record ...

. The group performed the song in the 1958 jukebox musical '' Let's Rock'' which also featured Danny and the Juniors,

Paul Anka Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter and actor. His songs include " Diana", “ You Are My Destiny", “Lonely Boy", " Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and " (You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wr ...

, and Julius LaRosa.

Legacy

Keyboardist

later became a member of the Four Seasons. Fourteen-year-old member

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Throughout much of the 1960s and 1970s he was a prolific studio musician, including playing organ on the Bob Dylan song " Like ...

sometimes appeared with the Royal Teens on the road in 1959, and later founded the groups The Blues Project and

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. Kooper also performed as a session musician on several of

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

's albums in the mid-1960s, including being the creator of the signature organ riff on Dylan’s iconic number one recording, “Like A Rolling Stone.” Vocalist Joe Francavilla (also known as Joey Villa) joined the group in late 1958. He previously sang with the Three Friends, which had a minor hit with "Blanche". With several briefly tenured members of the Royal Teens, he went on to form Joey and the Twisters, which released a few minor hits (" Do You Want to Dance", "Bony Maronie") in 1961–1962 and frequently played the Peppermint Lounge in New York City as contemporaries of Joey Dee and the Starliters. Billy Crandall joined the Knickerbockers in 1964, using the name Buddy Randell, and sang lead vocal on the group's top-20 hit " Lies" in 1966. Crandall later performed with the contemporary Messianic group, Jerusalem Rivers, before dying in 1998. The song "Short Shorts" was used in commercials for

Nair The Nair (, ) also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom hi ...

in the 1970s, sparking interest in the group; a reunion of the group (without Gaudio, who had by then ceased performing live in any capacity) appeared on '' The Midnight Special'' in 1974, performing "Short Shorts" to a pre-recorded backing track. The song was used in Japan for the opening tune of '' Tamori Club'' on TV Asahi Corporation until April 2023. It also featured in an episode of The Simpsons - Season 8 ‘The Mysterious Voyage of Homer’ where the episode ends with a shot of Springfield residents wearing short shorts and dancing to the song. Gaudio and Austin reunited at the August Wilson Theater the night of the premiere of ''

Jersey Boys ''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and breakup of the 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The mus ...

'', which included "Short Shorts" in its libretto. Austin said he was so proud to have traveled the first leg of Gaudio's historical musical journey with him. Billy Dalton died of an apparent heart attack on Saturday, October 8, 2011. After his funeral Mass, he was interred in St. Patrick Cemetery in Rochelle, Illinois, on October 13, 2011 — which would have been his 71st birthday.

Discography

ABC Paramount Records

* 1958: "

" / "Planet Rock" (originally issued on the tiny Power Records label) * 1958: "Big Name Button" / "Sham Rock" * 1958: "Harvey's Got A Girlfriend" / "Hangin' Around" * 1958: "Open The Door" / "My Kind of Dream"

Power Records

* 1959: "Sittin With My Baby" / "Mad Gass"

Mighty Records

* 1959: "Leotards" / "Royal Blue"

Capitol Records

* 1959: "Believe Me" / "Little Cricket" * 1960: "The Moon's Not Meant For Lovers (Anymore)" / "Was It A Dream?" * 1960: "It's The Talk of the Town" / "With You"

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Teens Rock music groups from New Jersey Royal Teens, The Musical groups established in 1956 Musical groups disestablished in 1965 Capitol Records artists RCA Records artists Epic Records artists American rock and roll music groups 1956 establishments in New Jersey Musical groups from Bergen County, New Jersey