Song of the Day 7/29: Chad and Jeremy, “A Summer Song”

The British Invasion was so all-encompassing that pretty much any act with English accents soared up the charts. Consider the case of Chad and Jeremy, who scored a handful of hits and lots of television appearances in the US in 1964-65, but had only one charting single in their native UK.

Chad Stuart, who died in 2020, readily acknowledged that he and Jeremy Clyde “snuck in under the radar” thanks to Anglophilia. Their gentle MOR ballads, usually strummed on acoustic guitar and enhanced with saccharine strings, bore little resemblance to the British interpretation of rock ‘n’ roll that conquered America in the Beatles’ wake.

Stuart and Clyde met in drama school, and despite their musical success Clyde had his sights set on an acting career. In 1965 he left the still-popular act to take a theater role in London’s West End and didn’t return for nine months, by which point musical tastes had shifted. Clyde went on to a long stage and film career punctuated by periodic reunions with Stuart for oldies tours and new albums, while Stuart moved into record production after serving as musical director for the Smothers Brothers.

“A Summer Song,” originally intended as an album track, was instead the duo’s biggest hit, reaching No. 7 on the Hot 100 in 1964.