One with glasses & one taller…One with glasses & one taller.
Peter & Gordon (top l-r) and Chad & Jeremy (l-r) were often mistaken for each other. The two duos were part of the British Invasion, and they both had hits from 1964 to 1966. P&G’s first hit was in May 1964, C&J’s in June 1964.
Peter Asher and Gordon Waller had a secret weapon…Paul McCartney. Paul was dating Peter’s sister, Jane, and for a time was even living with the Asher family. Paul wrote songs there, and sometimes he’d give an original song to Peter (who became a good friend) for Peter & Gordon to record. Their #1 hit “A World Without Love”, plus hits “Nobody I Know” (#12) and “Woman” (#14) were all written by Paul McCartney.
My copy of “Woman” had the songwriter listed as A. Smith, because McCartney didn’t want the song to become popular just because the Lennon/McCartney writing-team name was on it.
Update (12/25/22): Received the Capitol Records book for Christmas, and it had this cool photo of P&G doing vocals for “Woman” at Abbey Road Studios.
My 1965 picture sleeve of “I Go To Pieces”.
My favorite Peter & Gordon song was written by an artist they toured with, Del Shannon of “Runaway” fame. “I Go To Pieces” was a #9 hit in early 1965. The late great Buddy Holly furnished “True Love Ways” (#14), and their other significant singles were two fun novelty songs…”Lady Godiva” (#6) and “Knight In Rusty Armour” #15). The last of these was released in late 1966.
Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde started as a folk duo called “The Jerks”, but wisely changed their name. Their music is even more Folk influenced than that of their friendly rivals. “Yesterday’s Gone” (#21) was their first hit, and their biggest hit was “A Summer Song” at #7. Their first album, shown above, also included a #15 hit “Willow Weep For Me”. They did a show tune “If I Loved You” (#23), and their last significant singles were “Before And After” (#17) and “Distant Shores” (#30).
Two of their album cuts are of particular note: The Lennon/McCartney song “From A Window” (which had been given to Billy J. Kramer, but is better by Chad & Jeremy), and the folk song “Four Strong Winds”. It was originally by Canadian couple Ian & Silvia (Tyson), and was also done very well by Neil Young on his Comes A Time album.
Peter & Gordon won the competition on the charts, but it was Chad & Jeremy who got on American Television shows. The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon, and TV shows wanted to join in. Chad & Jeremy appeared as characters on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” & “The Patty Duke Show”, and as themselves on “Batman”.
By 1967, music became less folk & pop, and more rock & psychedelic. Neither Peter & Gordon nor Chad & Jeremy fit in.
The Beatles hired Peter Asher as the head of A&R at Apple Records, where he produced the first album by James Taylor. He moved to the U.S., and produced many extremely successful albums for James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and other artists. Asher also reunited at times with Gordon Waller for special performances, but in 2009 Waller passed away of a heart attack at the age of 64.
Chad & Jeremy continued sporadically releasing albums and songs into the 2000’s, but did not have chart success beyond their period of popularity in the 1960’s.
I’m a major fan of the British Invasion, and still enjoy both of these duos. The reality is, not very many British Invasion artists continued successful recording careers past the 1960’s.
I found the above photo of Peter & Gordon online, and it was labeled…Chad & Jeremy.
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Extra: Starting in 2018, Peter Asher and Jeremy Clyde performed from time to time as Peter & Jeremy. That might cause a little confusion, but it’s great for them and for fans.
Bonus: In 2021, I received this 3-minute video birthday greeting from Peter Asher. Click on this underlined IMG number to play it:
He’s charming. I’d like to have a long conversation with him. Here’s the link to my article about his Beatles book:
https://ontherecords.net/2020/01/the-beatles-a-to-zed-by-peter-asher/
Update: It was announced on December 20th, 2020 that Chad Stuart passed away at the age of 79. He died of pneumonia.
Actually, this wasn’t the only time one duo had been identified as the other.
I have an lp in my collection that, ostensibly, is a collection of songs by P&G and has a photo of C&J on the back cover.
Loved both these groups in the 60’s when I was a teenager & hold a special place in my heart for Chad & Jeremy as I met them along with a good friend of mine. To this day when I hear their music it brings back great feelings & memories of those times.
I had the pleasure of seeing Chad & Jeremy in concert in 1967. The Distant Shores album had just come out, and was produced by James Guercio, who played bass on the tour. Their next album, Of Cabbages And Kings, did take a stab at psychedelia, especially in the cover art. Jeremy Clyde went on to acting in theatre; and I happened to see him in “Conduct Unbecoming” in 1969 in London. I believe Chad & Jeremy have recently reunited and toured with Peter Asher, as part of a British Invasion show. I would love to see them again!
Thank you for the lovely review of these two duos!
Is there a video of the 4 of them together? Peter and Gordon and Chad and Jeremy? Would love to hear it!
How do I find it?
Editor: The only video I could find of them performing was after Gordon Waller had passed…so just three of them. There is a short video of all four of them signing autographs together in 2008.
…and they all played the same model of Gibson guitar
I mistook Peter And Gordon for Chad And Jeremy when their video came up on You Tube. So I googled this blog to see if it was a common thing.
As a child of the 60’s I loved Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy and, of course, The Beatles (who I actually got to meet in August of 1966 at The Somerset in Boston, all thanks to Paul McCartney who made it happen!). The following year a friend and I went into Boston to see Jane Asher who was starring in Romeo and Juliet! The 60’s were such an incredible time… thanks again for your lovely article!
Editor: Great memories…thanks for sharing!