Biography of Chad & Jeremy

The American success of the folkish duo of Chad Stuart (b. December 10, 1943, Durham, England) and Jeremy Clyde (b. March 22, 1944, Buckinghamshire, England) pointed up the impact of the British Invasion led by the Beatles in February 1964. Chad & Jeremy charted only once in their native country, but their single "Yesterday's Gone," released in May 1964, was the first of 11 U.S. chart hits they achieved through 1966. The biggest of these, and their only Top Ten, was "A Summer Song" (July 1964). Adopting a lighter approach than many of their Merseybeat contemporaries, Chad & Jeremy focused on pop revivals such as "Willow, Weep for Me" and songs from Broadway shows, such as "I Have Dreamed" from Carousel, both Top 40 hits for them. Having moved to Hollywood, they were frequent television guests, both on music shows such as Hullabaloo and series like Batman. Their commercial progress was complicated after 1965, when they signed to Columbia Records, while Capitol Records continued to issue their earlier recordings (previously issued on the World Artists label), such that they were forced to compete with themselves. They recorded the musically ambitious Of Cabbages and Kings (September 1967) in the wake of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They broke up after the commercial failure of its equally ambitious follow-up, The Ark (September 1968). Jeremy Clyde established himself as a British stage actor. The duo reunited for a new album in 1983; Of Cabbages & Kings was re-released in 1999. ~ William Ruhlmann