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). The group hails from east of the Atlantic in England. This Complete List Of Chad & Jeremy Albums And Songs presents the full discography of Chad & Jeremy studio albums.
Unlike the rock-influenced beat music of their peers, Chad & Jeremy performed in a soft, folk-inflected style characterized by hushed and whispered vocals. All these spectacular Chad & Jeremy albums have been presented below in chronological order. We have also included all original release dates with each Chad & Jeremy album as well as all original album covers.
Formation and Early Success
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. By 1962, they were performing together as a folk-music duo. Chad taught Jeremy to play the guitar.
After graduating from drama school, both musical groups were abandoned when Clyde left for Scotland to work for a short period at Dundee Repertory Theatre. They also formed a sideline project, a rock & roll band called the Jerks. Chad & Jeremy frequently performed in London at a basement coffeehouse called Tina's, where they were discovered by John Barry. The influential composer quickly got them a contract with a small British record label, Ember. Their first single was "Yesterday's Gone", a Stuart composition that became their only hit record in the UK, reaching No.
As the duo recorded this song, they developed their trademark singing style: "whispering". According to Stuart, "[John Barry] told us ... we sounded like a locker room full of football players..."
Read also: The Life of Chad Everett Harris
British Invasion and US Success
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. That song became a hit in the United States in the following year as part of the British Invasion.
"Yesterday's Gone" was released in the US by another small record label, World Artists Records, and rose to No. They became World Artists' most bankable act; Stuart said: "After that, the record company goes, 'Gee whiz, we've got a goldmine here, so let's start churning out those ballads, boys!' "
The next single was a cover version of an Ann Ronell standard "Willow Weep for Me" (produced by Shel Talmy), which reached No. 15 on the US Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. 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.
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.
The first World Artists single of 1965, the Rodgers and Hammerstein theatre song from Carousel named "If I Loved You", hit US No. 23 in April. Their follow-up singles were less successful: a Stuart and Clyde original, "What Do You Want With Me", peaked at US No. 51 in May, and a cover of Lennon and McCartney's "From a Window" peaked at No. Columbia quickly released a new album, Before and After, in June.
Read also: "Married to Evil": Chad Graves
The title track single "Before and After" peaked at US No. 17 almost immediately. That was followed just a few months later by I Don't Want to Lose You Baby. 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 next single, "I Have Dreamed", peaked at US No. 91 in November.
Chad & Jeremy were far more popular in the US than at home. The duo had 11 songs enter the US Hot 100-seven of which peaked in the Top 40-between 1964 and 1966.
In February 1966, the British music magazine NME said the duo had applied for US citizenship and that as American citizens, they would be eligible for military conscription and they had no wish to fight in the Vietnam War.
Television Appearances
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 satirised 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..."
Read also: Vallow-Daybell Trial: Key Evidence
Later Years and Reunion
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. 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; according to Stuart they were constantly "pushed around by accountants and lawyers".
Clyde announced he was returning to the theatre and Columbia management reacted by suspending the duo's contract. Stuart said he and Clyde "very foolishly tore up" their contract and parted. He said, "Our attitudes were, 'Who needs you?' Looking back though, we never should have done that. We should have kept it up.
After the split, Clyde returned to England and took up acting as a full-time vocation. He enjoyed great success and made several returns to New York in Broadway theater productions. 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 as music director for the Smothers Brothers' television show.
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 his review of the show at New York City's Felt Forum, music journalist Jeff Tamarkin wrote: "The evening's unquestionable highlight was the set from Chad (Stuart) & Jeremy (Clyde), which featured such soft, folky hits as 'A Summer Song' and 'Yesterday's Gone', and even a few obscurities from their later career.
Discography
Here is a list of Chad & Jeremy's albums and their peak positions on the US Billboard charts:
| Album Title | Release Date | US Peak Position |
|---|---|---|
| Yesterday's Gone | 24th July 1964 | 22 |
| Chad & Jeremy Sing for You | 20th March 1965 | 30 |
| Before and After | 25th May 1965 | 17 |
| I Don't Want to Lose You Baby | 27th September 1965 | 35 |
| Distant Shores | 15th August 1966 | 21 |
| Of Cabbages and Kings | 11th September 1967 | 181 |
| The Best of Chad & Jeremy (Capitol, 1966) | N/A | N/A |
| More Chad & Jeremy (Capitol, 1966) | N/A | N/A |
Popular articles:
tags: #Chad
