AGE 63......... MAY 22, 1998

                   Royce Kendall, one half of the father and daughter team of
               the Kendalls, died Friday.  Mr. Kendall was 63 years old.  Mr.
               Kendall had suffered a stroke on Wednesday just prior to a
 show in LaCrosse, Wis. 

               The Kendalls had a rare father-daughter duo.  The duo, Royce
               and Jeannie, scored 11 top 10 hits.  Those hits included
               Pittsburgh Stealers, It Don't Feel Like Sinnin' To Me and
               probably their biggest hit Heavens Just A Sin Away.

               Mr. Kendall had just completed their sound check and were
               greeting fans when he clutched his chest and fell to the floor.
               Paramedics arrived and he was flowen to a Wisconsin
               hospital.

               The funeral plans had not been announced as of this time, and
               the funeral will take place in his hometown of Harrison, Ark.
 

                                   © 1998 BMSNEWS /theEnews

Royce Kendall
The Kendalls
(b. 25 September 1934, St. Louis, Missouri, d. 22 May 1998)
Royce learned guitar from the age of five and formed a duo, the Austin Brothers,
with his brother, Floyce. After serving in the US Army, Royce and his wife Melba
started a hairdressing business in St. Louis. Their only child, Jeannie, began
harmonizing with her father on old-time country songs, and they were soon
entertaining family and friends. Their first record, for a small local label, was
Round Round Round, and their talents were recognized in Nashville by Pete
Drake, although they simply recorded country versions of pop hits such as
Leavin' On A Jet Plane, Proud Mary and You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.
Jeannie Kendall was among the backing singers on Ringo Starr's Nashville
album, BEAUCOUPS OF BLUES. The family moved to Hendersonville,
just outside Nashville, and the Kendalls had success with Dot Records,
notably Two Divided By Love and Everything I Own. In the mid-70s,
Ovation Records started a country division and the Kendalls, who had
a contemporary sound with traditional overtones, were to test the market.
When a single of Live And Let Live was released, Ovation found that
country disc jockeys preferred the b-side, Heaven's Just A Sin Away.
It topped the US country charts and became the Country Single of the
Year. The father and daughter followed the record with other ‘cheating’
songs, notably It Don't Feel Like Sinnin' To Me and Pittsburg Stealers.
They had a further US country number l with the double-sided, Sweet
Desire/Old Fashioned Love, plus further Top 10 hits with I'm Already
Blue and Dolly Parton's Put It Off Until Tomorrow. In 1981, they moved
to Mercury and continued their success with Teach Me How To Cheat
and If You're Waiting On Me (You're Backing Up). They had their third
chart-topper in 1984 with Thank God For The Radio. Jeannie, who takes
most of the lead vocals, married band member, Mack Watkins.

Kendalls on Music Blvd.