Royal Guardsmen, The

Formed in Ocala, Florida and originally known as The Posmen, the band adopted their new anglophile moniker during the British Invasion, led by The Beatles and other British artists.

The Guardsmen’s first single, Baby Let’s Wait, failed to achieve national success, their second offering, Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, reached #2 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and remained in the bestsellers for 12 weeks. And all while several band members were still in high school and college.

The characters of Snoopy (Charlie Brown’s beagle from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip) and the Red Baron (WWI German flying ace Baron Von Richthofen) became recurring themes in their novelty singles – including The Return of the Red Baron (which reached #15 in the US and #37 in the UK during 1967), Airplane Song (My Airplane) (1967), Snoopy’s Christmas (which topped the seasonal charts in 1967), and Snoopy For President (1968) – although they did also have Top 100 singles with the more conventional Any Wednesday (1967), I Say Love (1968) and a re-release of Baby Let’s Wait (1968).

Hopelessly branded as a novelty act, the original group split up in 1970, although a band with some replacement players continued for another year.

The original members (except for organist Billy Taylor) reunited in 1976 and played club dates for another three years before disbanding again.

The band next reunited in October 2004, released a single called Snoopy vs. Osama in 2006 and performed together in 2010 and 2018.

Guitarist Tom Richards died of a brain tumour in 1979, aged just 30.

Barry Winslow
Vocals, guitar
Chris Nunley
Vocals
Tom Richards
Guitar
Billy Taylor
Organ
Bill Balough
Bass
John Burdett
Drums