Roy Hamilton

Roy Hamilton (April 16, 1929 – July 20, 1969) was an American singer. By combining semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel feeling, he brought soul to Great American Songbook singing.

Hamilton's greatest commercial success came from 1954 through 1961, when he was Epic Records' most prolific artist. His two most influential recordings, "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Unchained Melody", became Epic's first two number-one hits when they topped the Billboard R&B chart in March 1954 and May 1955, respectively. Hamilton became the first solo artist in the label's history to have a US top-ten pop hit when "Unchained Melody" peaked at No. 6 in May 1955.

Roy Hamilton was born in Leesburg, Georgia, to Evelyn and Albert Hamilton, where he began singing in church choirs at the age of six. In the summer of 1943, when Hamilton was fourteen, the family migrated north to Jersey City, New Jersey in search of a better life. There, he sang with the Central Baptist Church Choir, New Jersey's most famous Black American church choir. At Lincoln High School, he studied commercial art and was gifted enough to place his paintings with a number of New York City galleries.

In February 1947, seventeen-year-old Hamilton took his first big step into secular music, winning a talent contest at the Apollo Theater. But nothing came of it. "I couldn't get a break," Hamilton recalled. "I really had nothing different to offer. They were seeking blues singers at the time, and I didn't know any blues at all." So, to support himself while he developed the different sound and singing style he wanted, Hamilton worked as an electronics technician during the day, and an amateur heavyweight boxer at night, with a record of six wins and one defeat.

In 1948, Hamilton joined the Searchlight Gospel Singers and also studied light opera, working with New Jersey voice coach J. Martin Rolls for more than a year. Hamilton continued to perform gospel with the Searchlight Singers, in churches and at gospel concerts, until 1953 when the group broke up and each member went off in his own direction. Hamilton headed back into pop music. But this time, he felt he finally had something different to offer.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.