Chad and Jeremy

Chad & Jeremy
Chad & Jeremy (2005)
Background information
Origin	England
Genres	Folk, soft rock
Years active	1960–68, 1983–87, 2003–present
Labels	UK: Ember US: World Artists, Columbia, Sidewalk, Rocshire
Website	Chad & Jeremy official website

Chad and Jeremy are an English singing folk rock duo originating in the 1960s, comprising Chad Stuart (born David Stuart Chadwick, 10 December 1941, Windermere, Cumbria) and Jeremy Clyde (born Michael Thomas Jeremy Clyde, 22 March 1941, Dorney, Buckinghamshire). Jeremy often sings the melody of a song while Chad sings higher harmonies. They were part of the British Invasion, a large influx of British rock and pop musicians to the American music scene.

Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde met while attending the Central School of Speech and Drama. Chad taught Jeremy how to play the guitar. By 1962, they performed together as a folk duo and formed a band called The Jerks, which Chad described as "the world's screwiest rock and roll group."

The duo's first single, 1963's "Yesterday's Gone", for the Ember Records label, which was arranged by John Barry, was their only UK hit. 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. As the duo recorded this, they developed their trademark style of singing: "whispering." "[John Barry] told us...we sounded like a locker room full of football players...in the end in desperation he said: 'Whisper it', so we kind of backed off a bit and so that sort of slightly sotto voce sound came about".

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 a cover version of "Willow Weep for Me" (which reached 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.