Singer Billy Joe Royal, who scored a memorable top 10 pop hit in 1965 with “Down in the Boondocks” and later became a country star, died Oct. 6 at his home in Morehead City, N.C. He was 73.

He died in his sleep, said his stepson Trey Rivenbark.

Born in Valdosta, Ga., on April 3, 1942, Royal was exposed to country music at a young age, singing with his uncle’s band.

“They had a radio show in Valdosta and they let me sing,” he said in a 2010 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And for some reason, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be in music.”

In the late 1950s, he developed his tenor voice and singing style at Atlanta clubs, sometimes doing five sets a night. He got to meet and sometimes perform with stars, including B.B. King, Roy Orbison, the Drifters and most memorably, Sam Cooke.

“He was my idol,” Royal said.