Bill Deal & The Rhondels Documentary

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[@lonniegodfrey4167]

I am Lonnie Godfrey, myself and David Morris, are the only living members of the "the Deal family " I myself played many years with Loretta Lynn as her drummer, and in the move Coal Miners Daughter, and still play locally ,my mother's twin sister's son has a group of his own called "Family Jules,We ARE, from the Deal family, our mother's were the last of 11 Deal children, William's dad was our mother's older brother, I am HONORED that so many people still remember my cousin and play his music still today, THANKS FOR REMEMBERING MY COUSIN, LonnieGodfrey

[@tibbieAnne-hf4kt]

I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Love seeing Gene Loving in this video. I see Brian Bleakley and Steve Ambrose often, around the area, often. RIP to bill Feal and Fat Ammons.

[@robertould5819]

Bill Deal got me hooked on music 45 years ago at Top Hat and I'm still hooked!!! Thanks Bill DJ Partying Bob

[@notholding2]

You could not have grown up in Tidewater VA in the late 60s without knowing the music of Bill Deal. I know, because I did!

[@almailhesjr.8160]

Me too!

[@teddyjackeddy6279]

or in the Carolinas

[@joycejean-baptiste4355]

I was living in Norfolk Virginia with my grandma and heard them on the radio. Didn't know what they looked like though. I've been hurt was the song. You just had to dance.

[@tomshaw661]

i was a teen living at tidewater when i heard this great sound and it made me feel good.Being young and feeling good go together.

[@stevenbonnesen5988]

Bill Deal and the Rhondels were on the radio in Wichita Kansas back in the day...still are on mine thanks to KZbin and Bluetooth...

[@austinteutsch]

Growing up in deep South Texas, I'd heard of Beach Music and Bill's hit songs because the radio stations in and around San Antonio, Texas had huge Mexican-American populations which lived the beat and harmonies of Bill Deal and Amon Tharp and they were kinda like a crossover band in the same vein as Sunny Ozuna & The Sunliners and Rene & Rene who also had regional hits that had national airplay. I just started really listening to them in 2020 and bought a few of their CD's. Such a great American band that was loved all over the world, esp. in Latin American countries such as Argentina and Brazil. Bruce Springsteen opens his East coast set with MAY I whenever he hits the stadiums of West Virginia and North Carolina. I just can't say enough about this band. I'm a huge fan now and we're gonna play MAY I and i''VE BEEN HURT in our sets from now on. SHAG IT FOREVER!!!!

[@candancetillage3263]

Why this band didn't reach the highest of success is so questionable for me. They were better than many other bands that got further in the market. I loved everything they did and went to many of their shows. Never disappointed.

[@tibbieAnne-hf4kt]

I was pretty young then, but now that I look back on it, music changing, moving from the Motown (R&B) sound to either sounds like the Mamas and the Papas, or psychedelic rock. It came back in a few years.

[@gerryburlage9849]

Nice documentary that brought back good memories of a simpler time and the Tidewater area.

[@russelljohnson2860]

In GITMO Bay Cuba in 1973 I got to see a USO Show. Bill Deal and the Rondels performed that show. They Showed Up !!!!!! Spinning horns, stepping, Just Pure Showmanship. I still to this day will never forget that show and it's now 2018. Now when the Rondels show up at Portside in Portsmouth Va. I will be there. I love that band. I had the CD rocking in the car on full volume. You should of seen the heads moving at the stop light and the smiles. Lol.

[@EditorBPress]

Makes me weep with pleasure.

[@davewallace8219]

there is so much joy! in his music..

[@WarpedRecord]

Thanks so much for posting this. Bill was the real Deal, and the Rhondels should be better known. I don’t really think of this as beach music - it’s just straight-ahead great rock ‘n’ roll with an R&B tinge.

[@MrAurelius77]

Bill Deal and the Rhondells had a charismaric sound in the late sixties with the soul,pop and ska songs,they had a big sucess on the spanish radios.a good memory.

[@jackkio5663]

I am a retired dj. When I first heard of b.d.& the rondels I was blown away. I worked from the west coast of the U.S. and the east coast of Canada. While not everyone heard of bill I got fired from one station for playing may I and I been hurt. I was to follow the program directors list of music. Instead I would substitute bills music instead! I had no regrets because I thought bills music should be heard. Thank You for the memories!!!

[@donaldblankenship510]

A great tribute!!!!

[@almailhesjr.8160]

RIP Ammon Tharp, William Deal and Freddy Owens

[@bubbalouie100]

This music ALWAYS take me to places I enjoy going to. Its my go to music and never gets dated. Thanks to you all guys.

[@notvalidcharacters]

I came across a 45RPM record by BD and the Rhondells on the Cheslick (?) label, "Stubborn Kind of Love" b/w "Day by Day". Anyone ever heard of it?

[@beckylucas9360]

Will see the original Rhondels in a few weeks

[@Fern-kr2xk]

Why is this the first time I've heard of this group I know it's amazing but I never did I like their sound grew up in the well born 1950 so I'm listening to music all night long hours

[@kelvyquayo]

Is this like the first official American Ska band?! In a time when no one knew what Ska was? (Reggae was already getting started!) Could you just find Jamaican records in random stores back then? I guess when you're jamming with lots of types of people you're gonna find a good influence.

[@carlwinslow5905]

Not really. I wouldn't call this ska. It has the off beat organ but that's about it. If you really want to see the first american ska band, I'd say it was The Pyramids who would of backed Roy Ellis and eventually become to be called Symarip. There were Americans playing or recording Ska in Jamaica before that. Curtis Mayfield wanted to record the Impressions in Jamaica but due to visas, it never happened but he did produce a record in Jamaica with Byron Lee's Dragonnaires in his Dynamic Studio called "The Real Jamaican Ska." Johnny Nash recorded a full Rocksteady album in Jamaica with one of the best rocksteady studio bands in 1968. That band was Lynn Taitt & The Jets and the album contained songs written by Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer to name a few. To answer your question about finding JA records in stores in the US. No. I mean you probably had a few Desmond Dekker records on UNI, Johnny Nash and Bob Marley after 1973 but most JA music went largely unnoticed until probably the 1980s. Unless you took trips to the actual JA owned record shops. Then yes, you probably would find em.

[@pack-wr6nq]

While I'm a big champion of " the black group that did the original" .....Bill Deal blows the Tams out of the park on "I've been hurt" ..

[@RobRVA]

Is there any video of them live in thier prime years? Never seen any. Also are any of the guys who played on original hits still alive?

[@marke891]

I don't like the term Beach Music. I grew up in Brooklyn NY which had the greatest radio stations and DJ's such as WMCA WABC WINS AM. This Music was played before I ever heard the terms Beach Music, Shag. This was the sound of the city not the beach. The first time I heard those terms was when I visited family from Raleigh NC. Bill along with The Tams, Drifters, The Magnificent Men, Righteous Brothers, Shades of Blue, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. Jay & The Techniques Tommy James & The Shondells etc were all part of The NY Airwaves.

[@SomeBeachMusic]

What we call beach music now days was called race or just black music in the south as far back as mid 1940,s. The music wasn't played on any of local radio stations so the only place the white kids could go to back then and dance was to Carolina Beach NC where the music was played on the juke box.

[@PortlandSingleGuy]

Their band played a lot in Va. Beach in the summer which might be one reason for being called "beach music".

[@unspecifiedvee2876]

Yes- I grew up in Virginia Beach along the Boardwalk Clubs too... ♪ ♫

[@tibbieAnne-hf4kt]

Gary Puckett and the Union Gap would not ever be included in Beach music, I was a young teen when their music came out, and I thought it was creepy even back then.