Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Tommy Roe was one of the top bubblegum singers of the 60's, achieving that status years before anyone ever heard of the Monkees or the Archies or any other practioners of this type of music.
Tommy was born in Atlanta in 1942. While a student at Brown High School he formed a group called The Satins which played at local dances around town. Tommy was an enthusiast of Buddy Holly's music.
He signed with a local label called Judd and later with ABC-Paramount. He recorded a song called Save Your Kisses. The flip side of this record had a song on it that Tommy had written in response to Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue; when DJ's began to play it, it caught on and suddenly he had a song that topped the charts in 1962. The song was Sheila.
Robin Luke had recorded a song in Hawaii that he had written for his sister called Susie Darlin'; Tommy Roe covered it and had his second top forty song. From there, Tommy was on his way. He became popular in Great Britain, and some of his songs would do very well there but not in the United States, such as The Folk Singer. He even moved to Great Britain and lived there for several years in the mid-to-late 60's.
In later years he worked in country music and did some touring with oldies shows. In all, Tommy Roe placed ten songs in the top forty in the 60's, two of which made the number one spot on the charts: Sheila and Dizzy.
Following are the songs that were released by Tommy Roe which reached the top ten:
- Sheila
- Everybody
- Sweet Pea
- Hooray For Hazel
- Dizzy
- Jam Up and Jelly Tight
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Send email to the author, Tom Simon tsimon@tsimon.com.