Chad & Jeremy are an English singing folk rock duo originating in the 1960s, comprising bespectacled Chad Stuart (born David Stuart Chadwick, 10 December 1941, Windermere, Cumbria), and Jeremy Clyde (born Michael Thomas Jeremy Clyde, 22 March 1941, Dorney, Buckinghamshire). They were part of the British Invasion, a large influx of British rock and pop musicians to the American music scene.
The duo’s first single, 1964′s “Yesterday’s Gone”, for the Ember Records label, which was arranged by John Barry, was their only UK hit.[1] However, Chad & Jeremy’s strings-backed sound held a greater appeal in the United States, where World Artists Records released their mid 1960s strain of commercial folk music.
Their second single, and biggest American hit, “A Summer Song”, hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 17–24 October 1964. Follow-ups included “Willow Weep for Me” (a 1930s song that was recorded by Paul Whiteman and Billie Holiday; with Chad & Jeremy’s version climbing to Number 1 on the Easy Listening chart) and on Columbia Records in 1965, “Before and After” reached the Top 20. In total Chad & Jeremy had seven US Top 40 hits between 1964 and 1966.
In February 1966, the British music magazine, NME, reported that the duo had applied for US citizenship. The magazine commented that as potential US citizens, they would be eligible for military service, and that they had no wish to end up defending their adopted country in Vietnam. However the practicalities of constantly renewing US work permits was problematical.[2]
The duo performs for a television special at Marineland, 1966
In the fall of 1967, they released the album, Of Cabbages and Kings. This psychedelic album sold poorly, as did the 1968 follow-up, The Ark.
The duo also made several television guest appearances. In back-to-back sitcom appearances, they first played fictional singing duo “The Redcoats” (Fred and Ernie) on the 10 February 1965 episode of the sitcom Dick Van Dyke Show that satirized Beatlemania. Two songs were featured in that episode: “No Other Baby” and “My, How The Time Goes By”. The following week they appeared on The Patty Duke Show as unknown British singing duo Nigel & Patrick, performing “A Summer Song”, “The Truth Often Hurts the Heart” and “Yesterday’s Gone”. They appeared as itinerant actors in That’s Noway, Thataway, a January 1966 episode of the comedic western Laredo, which was intended as a pilot for their own spin-off series.
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. During the latter episode, they sang “Distant Shores” and “Teenage Failure.”
Clyde appeared in 1966 as a bachelor contestant on The Dating Game where he won. Stuart voiced Flaps the vulture in Disney’s 1967 film The Jungle Book.
In 1968 they composed, recorded and released music to the film soundtrack of Three in the Attic, the music soundtrack was released in the US on Sidewalk Records.
In 1983, Chad & Jeremy reunited to record the album Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde for the MCA-distributed Rocshire Records label. Plans for a second reunion album in 1984 were well-advanced when the label folded.[3] The duo starred in the West End production of Pump Boys And Dinettes from 1984–1985, before returning to the US in 1986 for a nostalgia tour with other British Invasion artists. In 1987 they performed in short residencies at both Harrah’s Casino in Lake Tahoe, and the Reno Hilton before again breaking up.
In 2003, PBS reunited Chad & Jeremy in the 60s Pop-Rock Reunion special, which also prompted a tour the next year. They have been touring ever since. In 2008, the group released Ark-eology, an album featuring remakes of material they recorded in the 1960s. In September 2010, Chad & Jeremy marked 50 years of performing together with a limited-edition CD entitled Fifty Years On.
They performed at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January 2009.
They also perform at Beatles Fests in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles in 2014.
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