Чэд и Джереми: История британского дуэта

British band

Chad & Jeremy were a British musical duo consisting of Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde, who began working in 1962 and had their first hit song in the UK with "Yesterday's Gone" (1963). That song became a hit in the United States in the following year as part of the British Invasion. Unlike the rock music sounds of their peers, Chad & Jeremy performed in a soft, folk inflected style that is characterised by hushed and whispered vocals. The duo had a string of hits in the United States, including "Willow Weep for Me", "Before and After", and their biggest hit, "A Summer Song". After some commercial failures and divergent personal ambitions, Chad & Jeremy disbanded in 1968. Chad Stuart continued to work in the music industry while Jeremy Clyde became a film and stage actor. In the early 1980s, the duo reunited to record a new album and perform concerts, including a multi band British Invasion nostalgia tour. After another long period of separation, in the early 2000s Chad & Jeremy began performing again and developed a semi regular schedule of touring for many years. Chad Stuart retired in 2016 and died on December 20, 2020, while Jeremy Clyde continues to tour and record as a solo artist.

Chad Stuart was born David Stuart Chadwick on 10 December 1941 in Windermere, Westmorland, and Jeremy Clyde was born Michael Thomas Jeremy Clyde on 22 March 1941 in Dorney, Buckinghamshire. The two met while attending London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Chad taught Jeremy to play the guitar and by 1962 they were performing together as a folk music duo. The influential composer quickly got them a contract with a small British record label, Ember. reaching No. 37 in December 1963. As the duo recorded this song, they developed their trademark style of singing: "whispering". "[John Barry] told us  we sounded like a locker room full of football players  in the end in desperation he said: 'Whisper it', so we kind of backed off a bit and so that sort of slightly sotto voce sound came about". They developed a style in which Jeremy usually sang the melody while Chad sang the higher harmonies.

In 1964, Chad & Jeremy arrived in the United States as part of the British Invasion. According to Stuart, "We snuck in under the radar" because even though their folk songs and strings backed ballads bore little resemblance to the rock music of most of their colleagues, they gained widespread acceptance in the US. Their second US single "A Summer Song" (produced by Shel Talmy) was a surprise hit that Chad & Jeremy had intended as an album track. All three hits were included on their 1964 debut album, Yesterday's Gone, which spent 39 weeks on the Billboard 200 and eventually peaked at No. 22.

In January 1965, Chad & Jeremy were in talks with a major label, Columbia Records. On 27 March, they signed a contract giving Columbia control over all Chad & Jeremy recordings retroactively to 1 January 1965. Before the end of 1964, however, the duo had made a new batch of recordings, giving the minor labels a backlog of material to release throughout the following months. Columbia quickly released a new album, Before and After, in June. The title track single "Before and After" peaked at US No. 17 almost immediately. The title track was composed by Van McCoy and preceded the album as a summer single, which peaked at US No. 35 in August. The duo went on a year long hiatus in mid 1965 when Clyde accepted an acting role in a London stage production of The Passion Flower Hotel. Clyde expressed his reasoning, and his regret, to an interviewer in 2014:

Stuart said, "I was the partner of an actor who was constantly threatening to leave the act, and did". After finishing the album in London—most of which was scrapped— In late November, Columbia arranged for Chad & Jill to sing on television again, this time a rendition of the folk music standard "The Cruel War" on Hullabaloo.

Clyde returned from London after about nine months away. Around the same time, Columbia released a new Chad and Jeremy single in the US, the Dylanesque "Teenage Failure", In April, Columbia released Chad & Jill's "The Cruel War" as a single that is backed with "I Can't Talk to You". Chad & Jeremy began to work in earnest again and recorded the album Distant Shores, which was released in August 1966. The title song was composed by their bassist James William Guercio, who later enjoyed fame as a producer for Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears. "Distant Shores" was their last Top 40 hit; it reached US No. 30 in August while a second single "You Are She" peaked at No. 87 in November.

During the mid 1960s, Chad & Jeremy made several television guest appearances. They portrayed a fictional singing duo called "The Redcoats" (Freddy and Ernie) on the 10 February 1965 episode of the sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show that satirized Beatlemania. "I Don't Want No Other Baby But You" and "My, How the Time Goes By" were featured in that episode. One week later, they appeared on The Patty Duke Show as "Nigel & Patrick", an unknown British singing duo in need of promotion and sang the song "The Truth Often Hurts The Heart" (twice), which was inexplicably never issued as a single. In an interview marking the 50th anniversary of the show's debut, Patty Duke said of that particular episode; "I was obsessed with them  that was a big week for me". They were guest stars on an episode of Laredo—"That's Noway, Thataway", first broadcast on 20 January 1966—in which they played destitute English actors travelling through the Old West. The episode was intended as a pilot for a Chad & Jeremy television show that was titled Paleface but was never produced. The duo appeared as themselves in the December 1966 episodes "The Cat's Meow" and "The Bat's Kow Tow" of the television series Batman, in which the guest villain was Julie Newmar as Catwoman. In this two part storyline, Catwoman's master plan includes "stealing" the voices of Chad & Jeremy. The same year, Clyde appeared on his own in a Season 8 episode of My Three Sons.

In late 1967, Chad & Jeremy released the psychedelic album Of Cabbages and Kings as "Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde", and a 1968 follow up called The Ark. The albums received critical acclaim but were commercial failures. They recorded several new songs for the film and Stuart composed an instrumental backing score. and features the duo's version of "Paxton's Song (Smoke)", which was sung by Jones in the film. In later years Stuart said there was regret for the breakup but at the time the pair suffered from "fatigue and burn out". Cost overruns in the making of The Ark had soured relations with Columbia and left the two in debt; Stuart remained in the US with plans to continue in the music industry in background roles such as arrangement and production. His first job was music director for the Smothers Brothers' television show and he later served as a staff producer for A&M Records. A music video was filmed for the single "Bite The Bullet". Plans for a second album in 1984 were advancing when the label suddenly went bankrupt The pair starred in the West End production of Pump Boys and Dinettes from 1984 to 1985. Returning to the US in 1986 for a British Invasion reunion tour, Chad & Jeremy played 33 cities in six weeks alongside Freddie and the Dreamers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers and the Mindbenders. In 1987, Chad & Jeremy performed a two week residency at Harrah's in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, before parting again. Chad & Jeremy performed at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January 2009. In September 2010, Chad & Jeremy marked the anniversary of their first meeting with a limited edition CD entitled Fifty Years On. After 15 years of semi regular touring, Stuart retired to his home in Sun Valley, Idaho. Clyde now tours as a solo artist with a backing band, interlacing Chad & Jeremy songs with newer music from his own multi album series, The Bottom Drawer Sessions.

Year SongsBoth sides from same album except where indicated UK Singles Chart CanadaRPM 100 U. S. Hot 100 U. S. AC Album1963 "Yesterday's Gone"b/w "Lemon Tree" (from More Chad & Jeremy) 37 – 21 –Yesterday's Gone 1964 "Like I Love You Today"b/w "Early in the Morning" (Non LP track) – – – – "A Summer Song" b/w "No Tears for Johnnie" – 6 7 2 "Willow Weep for Me" b/w "If She Were Mine" – 13 15 11965 "If I Loved You"b/w "Donna, Donna" (from Chad & Jeremy Sing for You) – 16 23 6The Best of Chad & Jeremy "What Do You Want with Me? "b/w "A Very Good Year" (from More Chad & Jeremy) – 5 51 9Chad & Jeremy Sing for You "Before and After"b/w "Fare Thee Well (I Must Be Gone)" – – 17 4Before and After "From a Window"b/w "My Coloring Book" – – 97 –Chad & Jeremy Sing for You "I Don't Wanna Lose You Baby"b/w "Pennies" (Non LP track) – 13 35 –I Don't Want to Lose You Baby "September in the Rain"b/w "Only for the Young" – – – –Yesterday's Gone "I Have Dreamed"b/w "Should I" – – 91 22I Don't Want to Lose You Baby1966 "Teenage Failure"b/w "Early Mornin' Rain" (from Distant Shores) – – – –Non album single "Distant Shores"b/w "Last Night" (Non LP track) – 16 30 –Distant Shores "You Are She"b/w "I Won't Cry" – – 87 – "Adesso Sì"b/w "Nessuno Più Di Me" – – –Non album single; Italy only(Sanremo Music Festival, 1966)1967 "Painted Dayglow Smile"b/w "Editorial (Vocal)" (from Of Cabbages and Kings) – – – –The Ark1968 "Sister Marie"b/w "Rest in Peace" (from Of Cabbages and Kings) – – – –Non album single1969 "Paxton Quigley's Had the Course"b/w "You Need Feet (You Need Hands)" – – – –The Ark1983 "Zanzibar Sunset"b/w "Dreams" – – – –Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde