Born James Durant Boyte II in the late '40s, Randy Boyte was raised in the area around Leesburg, FL. He studied the piano and by the early '60s had begun playing in local bands, most notably the Nation Rocking Shadows, which eventually merged with another band, the Coachmen, to form the Trademarks, who eventually merged with the Offbeets to form We the People. Boyte remained with the latter group, which recorded extensively, from 1966 until the start of the 1970s in various incarnations and lineups, as they carved out a name for themselves in Florida and as a legendary should-have-made-it band of the mid-'60s. Boyte was also later a member of the group Raintree County during the 1970s, but had left professional music by the 1980s. He passed away in the early summer of 2005. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi