The History of Bill Deal

His Life and Career
The story of my father’s life would require an encyclopedia to be considered complete. This brief history, though, is a fascinating account of a boy with a vision who realized his dream, along the way spreading joy and love and inspiration to others. Always giving, always caring, always selfless…until the end, my father epitomized a great example of what a man should be. As he often said, “It’s all about love,” and he meant it. Here is a basic chronology of my father’s life and career. Throughout this website, you will find many other examples of significant moments in his life, so be certain to visit every page and even share your stories if you have them. Enjoy!

Early Roots
“I guess I have music in my genes,” my father once said in an interview. Describing his own father, he said, “My dad was a guitarist and vocalist in his own 16 piece band, and played for years.” In the interview, my father recalled picking out tunes on the piano at 3 or 4 years old. He said, “I took lessons for eight years with a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Theresa Lindaver. She’d come twice a week, play for me, then I’d play what she had played. I never was a good music reader.”

He went on…“In my early teens, friends and I used to go listen to music in places like the Ebb Tide Club in Ocean View. It was a different world back in the ‘50’s and we were safe. We’d hear people like Earl Swanson on sax, Gene Barge and the Church Street Five with Gary Bonds. I’d go home and improvise on their music. I liked it and thought ‘I can do this’.”

In reality, my father’s music career began at a young age of 6 as he performed for live audiences at special events, benefits, and downtown parades. His father, Noah “Pom-Pom” Deal, and his brothers Noah, Jr., and Robert often accompanied him. In his spare time, my father would join his neighborhood friends at the Beazley Community Center in his hometown of Portsmouth, Va., and they would often return home with him to visit the music room and hear him play.

A pivotal moment in my fathers life occurred at age 14, when he was asked to sing “Just A Dream”, the Jimmy Clanton tune, with the Ebb Tide gang one night. The interview best describes his state of mind…“shaking, nervous, stomach quivering…” but he did it, nevertheless. “That was a thrill I never got over”, he said. “I started sitting in with groups like the Blazers (Mack Barefield and Mike Ash) playing piano at the Casino and the Top Hat Club.

Finally, Mack said ‘You may just be a kid. But you can come along and play with us and we’ll pay you!” Mack honored his promise, hiring my father to play at the old Admiralty Hotel. “The drummer was a year older than me, and we started talking during the breaks. That was how I met Ammon Tharp. We found out we shared a lot--we both loved Larry Williams and Little Richard--we definitely weren’t into ‘Stardust’!” Actually, my dad and Ammon had chatted briefly at the Knights Club Community Center in Va. Beach, while both were attending a show by a soul band called the Rhythm Rockers.

As Ammon put it, “We got together and decided we liked the same kind of music, rhythm and Blues…Soul music. We decided to put a group together and play at area High Schools. We were into music like Gene Chandler, James Brown, and Jackie Wilson, that type of thing. In the beginning it was just the two of us. Bill played a b-3 organ, kicked bass pedals and played the electric piano. Since it was just me and Bill, if he knew the songs then ‘we’ knew the songs. I’d either heard the song on WRAP or would buy the record downtown at Frankie’s on Church Street.”

My father adds, “When Ammon and I started we didn’t have enough songs to get through the night and we’d have to repeat quite a few. A good friend of mine suggested we call ourselves The Rhondels, which is the name of the repetition of a line of poetry. He thought he was being funny, but the name stuck.” Then, the hard work began. “He and I started practicing in the music room at my house. I’d play bass with my foot on the organ, the guitar melody line on the piano with my right hand, filling in with my left hand on the organ. That’s a lot of work!” Indeed, it was, but it would pay off.

“We felt our music was really good”, my father continued. “We started going to the popular teenage nightspot on the beach, The Knight’s Club Community Center. Harry Smithson was the president. They were great kids at the center and are many of today’s leaders in Hampton Roads.

We played for Harry, and the kids loved it, so we became regulars. Playing two or three times a week. Soon, people at the Top Hat and the Peppermint were hearing about us and wanted us to play there. We were reluctant; it was the beer/bar scene; but we did it.” They became larger, adding George Bell, Ronnie Hallman, and David Williams. They began to travel, too, playing throughout Virginia and the Carolinas.

Chance Encounter
Unbeknownst to The Rhondels, they were about to be launched into musical stardom. The road to fame was paved for The Rhondels when, as a joke, the band performed Maurice Williams’ “May I” to a polka beat, and the crowd went wild. My dad put it this way: “So one night, we did a take-off, making fun of “May I” , lots of horn up front, and played to a polka beat. People were screaming. They loved it. We played it two more times that night.”

When local promoter Gene Loving heard their version of “May I”, he was certain it could be a hit record, so he took it to New York where the song caught the attention of executives at Heritage Records, a subsidiary of MGM Entertainment.

In 1969, Bill Deal and the Rhondels were signed to their first recording contract, and the rest is history. “May I” made it to #15 on the U.S. charts. The next two years produced four more hits: “I’ve Been Hurt,” “What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am”, “Swingin’Tight”, and “Nothing Succeeds Like Success”.

During its first week on sale, “I’ve Been Hurt” sold more than 147,000 copies and brought bookings in New York’s Madison Square Garden and in Washington, D.C. Their songs became international hits, making it to #1 in places like Mexico, Spain, and Germany ( Billboard charts are posted in the MEDIA section of this website). “In Mexico,” my father explained, “I’ve Been Hurt was #1 for six or seven weeks. It was even on the side of Coca Cola trucks!!!” They were also huge stars in Argentina and Brazil. Simply put, they had hit the big time.

Coming Home
My father had always been a dedicated family man. Having married Janice Burton, his childhood sweetheart, all he really wanted was to be home with her and their two children, Bubba (me) and Sarah.

After years of touring and traveling, my father and Ammon realized it was time to settle down. Using their financial success, my father founded Rogues Gallery( the popular Beach nightclub) with Gene Loving and future Lt. Governor of Virginia, Dick Davis, while Ammon founded his own band, appropriately named Fat Ammon’s Band. Bill Deal and the Rhondels continued to perform close to home at festivals, reunions, college events, and concerts from Orlando, Fla. to Washington, D.C., and of course at their home base, Rogues Gallery in Va. Beach.

The band continued to produce albums, cassettes, and Cds. “Now and Then”, their 1980 album release, contained old hits and new material, including their catchy tune “L.O.D. Love on Delivery”. After the murder of Freddie Owens, my father’s best friend and fellow band-mate , my father was done with the music scene, so he thought, for good. “That shut me down,” my father later confirmed.

“The band was great, but after that it seemed like a black cloud was over everything.” My father then sold Rogues, shut down his band, and ventured away from music to pursue a career in commercial real estate. My parents divorced, and my father was eventually re-married in 1983. Luckily, my mother and father never abandoned their life-long friendship, and remained the best of pals until my father’s last day.

My mother was extremely influential in the success of my father, and although she would never admit it, she deserves much credit for helping to shape my father’s career. As for Ammon, he had semi-retired, but his band continued to perform. Then, in 1986, something wonderful happened. Bill and Ammon performed what was supposed to be a “one night only” reunion gig for good friend Billy Henry at his Fat Roger’s Beach Club. It turned into much more than that.

A New Beginning
The crowd was ecstatic over the reunion, and so were the local media……so much so that my father and Ammon decided to do it once more, which led to once more, which led to even more. Soon, at the encouragement of Billy Henry and Robert Shibley plus demand from fans, my father and Ammon found themselves back in the studio under their new name “The Sheiks of Shag”. The band consisted of Eddy Williams, Wayne Kessinger, Joel Smith, and the late, great Ernie LeBeau. Their first release was appropriately titled “Sheiks of Shag”, which they recorded at their Park View Records studios in Va. Beach (Park View was my father’s boyhood home in Portsmouth, Va.).

To my own delight, my sister Sarah and I were asked to sing background vocals on the new CD, which was a total blast….Ernie LeBeau was so much fun to be around, and he was an extraordinary musician. He, too, will be greatly missed. Ernie played an integral role in the re-birth of the band.

Together, they were once again wowing crowds, with old fans returning , often bringing their children who would, themselves, become fans. From the mid 80’s up to my father’s untimely death in 2003, the band performed to sold out crowds, using their signature “style of blending instruments and voices that became a unique feeling called Beach Music” (Gene Loving). They produced more records…“The Toast of Va. Beach”, “Once Upon a Time-Rhondels Forever”, “The Sound of Va. Beach”, and “Spinnin’Round”, all of which captured the ever-enduring, unique sound of this legendary ensemble.

Eternal Legacy
My father probably never imagined as a child the impact he would have on the worldwide music industry, that he would be a trend setter who would ultimately be crowned as the King of Beach Music. Somewhere in the world right now, his music is playing, and will for eternity. In Hollywood, movie studios have found his music to be quite favorable for their productions.

The Steve Buschemi/Samuel Jackson flick “Tree’s Lounge” features three of my dad’s biggest hits. His songs have appeared on countless beach and oldies compilations, as well. My father has been the recipient of countless awards and proclamations.

The city of Portsmouth,Va., declared June 6, 2003, as Bill Deal Day. Later in 2003, Bill Deal and the Rhondels were inducted into the Music Walk of Fame in Norfolk,Va., for which many previous Rhondels were gathered together to perform for the historic event (check out their star on Granby St.).

Posthumously, the month of February 2004 was declared Bill Deal month by the city of Portsmouth,Va. In March 2004, the Va. Daffodil Society named a flower in my father’s honor.On August 4, 2005, Harbor St. in Portsmouth was changed to become Bill Deal St. The 2004 Neptune Festival in Va. Beach was dedicated to Bill Deal, and famed artist Rick Romano was commissioned by the city to create the official event poster honoring my father.

The 2004 American Music Festival in Va. Beach was dedicated to Bill Deal. I could go on and on, and the honors just keep coming. My father would have been so very proud and honored…what a legacy!!! For over 40 years, my father and his bands were synonymous with beach music, shagging, and packed clubs up and down the East Coast. His music received worldwide critical acclaim and continues in popularity throughout the globe. For my father, though, it was never about the fame and fortune that befell upon him….it was about following a calling and realizing a dream.

When asked of his proudest accomplishment, his answer was always “my children”, and later became “my children and grandson”, referring to his beloved grandson Will Jenkins.On December 10,2003, my father passed away suddenly in his home due to a major heart attack. The support of family, friends, and fans was simply overwhelming, and for that the family is grateful. This has been a pleasure to write, and I hope it was equally pleasurable for you.

All My Love, William F. “Bubba” Deal, Jr.

BILL DEAL
July 8,1944-December 10,2003

May He Live On In Our Hearts Forever!!!