Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Roy Head has recorded songs in a variety of styles since the 60's and is most closely associated with his giant hit from 1965 Treat Her Right.
He was born in Three Rivers, Texas in 1943. Roy moved to San Marcos, Texas from Three Rivers and helped start the Traits (originally known as the Treys) during the 1956-1957 school year. Many of the band members were from San Marcos High School. Head was a country singer but ventured into rock-and-roll. Roy Head and the Traits signed a recording contract with TNT Record Company in San Antonio, and from 1958 to 1961 they released five records on that label, three of which became regional hits. It set the stage for what would come later in the Sixties.
The group signed with the Scepter label in 1964, then moved on to a smaller label called Back Beat. It was here that they would have their most success on the pop charts. They recorded their song Treat Her Right and it entered the pop charts in September of 1965. Released as by Roy Head and the Traits, it reached number two both there and on the R&B charts. Although Roy Head was a white singer he had recorded a song in an R&B style, and thus became part of the mid-60's blue-eyed soul movement that also included groups such as the Righteous Brothers and the Boxtops.
Other songs which had been recorded earlier were reissued, either as by Roy himself or by Roy Head and the Traits. Two of these reached the top forty on the pop charts later in 1965, Just A Little Bit and Apple Of My Eye. Roy and his group recorded with other labels, some of which were too small to promote a record into being recognized nationally. They had three more minor hits in 1966. They reached the top 100 just once more with a minor hit in 1971 titled [The World's Going Up In A] Puff Of Smoke.
Roy Head turned his attentions to the country market in the 70's, and continued to record for a variety of record labels. The country hits began to come and Roy rode the country charts into the mid-80's. The most successful country song he released was The Most Wanted Woman In Town in 1975. Roy released a number of albums in the late 70's and early 80's, and there were some compilations issued in the 90's.
So Roy Head and the Traits had a variety of records issued on a variety of labels. They are basicly a country band that records in a rock-and-roll style, sometimes with an R&B influence. The result is a lot of varied, interesting music. The group is known for putting on a good show, sometimes along the lines of a James Brown dance revival. Their big hit from the the 60's, Treat Her Right, was featured in the movie The Commitments.
Roy Head and the Traits held reunion concerts in San Marcos in October, 2007. Songs that are a combination of the group's earliest records released by TNT between 1958 and 1961, along with Apple Of My Eye and Treat Her Right, were compiled in a CD titled Golden Anniversary - Rockabilly Hall of Fame Album. For information on how to obtain this CD, write to royheadandthetraits@yahoo.com.
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Send email to the author, Tom Simon tsimon@tsimon.com.