Chad and Jeremy
Unlike many of their British Invasion contemporaries, Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde came from upper class families and were educated in Britain's finest schools. Some say their privileged upbringing hurt their careers in the UK but helped build their popularity in the US.
Chad and Jeremy met at in drama school and became a musical duo in 1962, playing in London coffee shops. The next year they signed a contract with tiny Ember Records and recorded their first and only British hit, "Yesterday's Gone." Chad wrote the song but sold the rights to a publisher for just £15. The Ember label had virtually no distribution system, and in Britain the record went nowhere. Adding to their troubles, a London newspaper published a picture of a young Jeremy Clyde dressed up in velvet as a page to his grandfather, the Duke of Wellington, at Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1952. Chad and Jeremy say, on their website, that in England the publicity branded them as "upper class twits who had no right to play in the working class rock n roll playground."
Their future was far brighter in the US, where a Pittsburgh-based record label, World Artists, released "Yesterday's Gone" in 1964. The song moved up to the top twenty on the American Country and Pop charts. Later in the year, when "A Summer Song" became their second hit single in the States, Chad and Jeremy packed their bags and moved to California.
There were fewer hit records, but Chad and Jeremy began getting gigs on US television -- the Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show, The Andy Williams Show, the Danny Kaye Show, Shindig and Hullabaloo.
Chad and Jeremy have resumed touring and recording.
In the fall of 1967 they released the psychedelic album, "Of Cabbages and Kings." It won critical acclaim but sold poorly. By 1968, Chad and Jeremy decided to split.
Chad composed musical comedies, served as musical director for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and released a single with his wife, Jill. Jeremy returned to acting. But like so many other British Invasion performers, Chad and Jeremy reunited occasionally in the 80s and 90s and began performing, recording and touring again in the last few years. They appeared on stage with Peter and Gordon in 2008.
Chad and Jeremy Videos
"Yesterday's Gone," 1964
Another version, at the South Florida Folk Festival, January, 2008 -- 44 years later
Chad and Jeremy Discography
Singles Released in the US:
* A Summer Song / Willow Weep for Me
* No Tears for Johnnie / A Summer Song (World Artists 1027)
* If She Were Mine / Willow Weep for Me (World Artists 1034)
* Donna Donna / If I Loved You (World Artists 1041)
* A Very Good Year / What Do You Want with Me (World Artists 1052)
* September in the Rain / Only for the Young (World Artists 1060)
* Yesterday's Gone / If I Loved You (Capitol 6088)
* Before and After / Fare Thee Well (Columbia 4-43277)
* I Don't Want to Lose You Baby / Pennies (Columbia 4-43339)
* Editorial / Painted Dayglow Smile (Columbia 4-44379)
* I Have Dreamed / Should I (Columbia 4-43414)
* Teenage Failure / Early Mornin' Rain (Columbia 4-43490)
* Distant Shores / Last Night (Columbia 4-43682)
* You are She / I Won't Cry (Columbia 4-43807)
* You Need Feet / Paxton Quigley's Had the Course (Columbia 4-44660)
* Family Way / Rest in Peace
* Zanzibar Sunset / Dreams (Rocshire XR95061, 1983)
CHAD AND JILL STUART
* The Cruel War / I Can't Talk to You (Columbia 4-43467)
Click here to visit Chad and Jeremy's website.
