‘Man, Dig That Crazy Chick!’
The Royal Teens’ Co-Founder Tom Austin on Their Hit ‘Short Shorts’
It was 1956. Drummer Tom Austin and keyboardist Bob Gaudio were talented New Jersey teenagers who recruited guitarist Billy Dalton and saxophonist Billy Crandall to form a band, the Royals.
Austin and Gaudio teamed to write “Short Shorts,” a number three hit in 1958. Tours, TV shows, and an appearance in the film Let’s Rock! swiftly followed. The band followed with 1959’s “Believe Me,” which reached number 26, but never recorded an album. The band broke up by 1965.
In 1959, 14-year-old Al Kooper, who would go on to record with the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat & Tears, joined for a short period. Using the name Buddy Randell, Crandall joined the Knickerbockers and co-wrote their hit “Lies.”
Bob Gaudio left the band to join Frankie Valli’s group, the Four Lovers, which became the Four Seasons. Gaudio wrote “Sherry,” the Seasons’ first number-one hit.
Billy Crandall died in 1998, and Dalton in 2011. Tom Austin, who continues to perform with a new lineup of the Royal Teens, discussed the band’s history in 2012.
Tom Austin: We started playing at CYO dances, political functions, firehouse parties, Knights of Columbus halls, that kind of stuff. And one night in the…
