the Del-Royals

Dellroy, 1958-60

The Del-Royals were a three member vocal group composed of high school students from the village of Dellroy. They attended Carrollton High School. Both places are about 20 miles S-SE of Canton. 

The group included Jan Kennedy, Norman "Sonny" Tanner, and Eddie Baggott. They started around 1958 when Jan and Sonny where high school juniors and Eddie was a sophomore. One of their classmates was Jerry Glasser, the youngest of the Glasser family from which Dick Glasser (and his group the Three Gs) gained national fame. Jerry acted as an advisor and mentor. 

The group's home town provided a convinient sourve to create a name, the Del-Royals. According to an online interview with Jan Kennedy, Dick Glasser knew somebody at Cleveland's Warwick records and arranged to have the group make a record. They recorded a couple songs in Cleveland - most likely at Schneifer Recording. The planned A side "Barbara" was written by Fern Britton while the other side "I'll Wait Forever" was written by Dick Glasser. The record was released and got some airplay on KYW, but not enough to get the record into hit status. The Kennedy interview says that Dick Glasser sent a copy to Dick Clark, in hopes that Clark would promote "Barbara" was that was his wife's name, but nothing happened.

The group was able to take some momentum from the record and peform at dances and hops in northern Ohio, within KYW's range. That lasted through the rest of 1959 through to earl;y 1960 (reference the ad above from March 1960). When the group performed, Jerry would accompany them on guitar. 

By the end of the 1959-60 school year Jan and Sonny were graduating high school and they decided to end the group as they were not able to turn professional.

Jan Kennedy stayed active in music and recorded three 45s in the 1970s. Sonny Tanner and Eddie Baggott are deceased.

The interview with Jan Kennedy can be found here
And now there is one… - The Carroll County Messenger (theccmonline.com)

Discography
I'll Wait Forever / Barbara - Warwick 111/2, 1959