Roy C - Open Letter To The President

All film used with permission of WPA: www.wpafilmlib...
This great 1971 song by singer, song writer and record producer Roy C (Roy Charles Hammond) is an "open letter" to the then President - Richard Nixon, challenging him to withdraw US troops from Vietnam and end the war. It's also one of the earliest songs (at the end) to reference the evils of apartheid in South Africa, as well as the injustices of racism and poverty in the US, in support of the civil rights movement in its fight for freedom. Roy was born in Georgia USA in 1939 and began his singing career in the late 1950s by forming The Genies, a vocal group in Long Beach, Long Island. The group broke up when Roy was drafted into the US Air Force. In 1965, after his period of service, he moved to New York and embarked on a solo career, recording probably his most popular song "Shotgun Wedding" under the name Roy Hammond. This was on his own Hammond label and it reached number 14 in the US R&B Billboard chart and number 6 in the UK Singles chart. Roy C went on to release a number of other songs, some controversial (due to their sexual or political themes) including the famous "Impeach the President" (singing with the Honey Drippers, a talented high school band in the style of the JBs) in response to the ongoing Watergate scandal under Richard Nixon.