I can't tell you much about today's featured artiste I'm afraid. The CD from which I have taken the tracks is a Japanese release so the sleeve notes are no help to me at all, and his Wikipedia entry runs to a grand total of five lines.
What I can tell you is that Little Royal (real name Royal Torrence) had an intermittent recording career that lasted from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s and was known as "James Brown's little brother" due to some perceived physical and musical similarities and an unproven rumour that they were half-brothers.
Royal's biggest hit was "Jealous" which made the top 20 of the Billboard soul charts in 1972, off the back of which he was able to record his one and only album which went by the same name.
The reissue I have also includes a lot of bonus tracks, including today's second selection which was a 1973 B-side. The CD is hard to get hold of in physical form, at least outside Japan, but if you are willing to deal with the tax-dodging devils you can download it for £6.50.
"Jealous" - Little Royal
"(I Want To Be Free) Don't Want Nobody Standing Over Me" - Little Royal
Here is a rare clip of Little Royal singing and strutting his stuff while wearing what appears to be Norwich City's 1986-87 kit. He is sounding great but sartorially is upstaged by the host's man bag and crocheted tank top.
Mr Royal should at the very least worn an outfit that actually fitted on him, rather than adopting the "he'll grow into it" approach of parents buying a new school uniform for their child
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