Peter & Gordon

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Peter & Gordon 2005

Peter & Gordon was a British pop music duo that released records in the 1960s. It had numerous chart successes, both in Great Britain and despite the British invasion of the USA . With the title A World Without Love , the duo had a worldwide success in 1964.

history

The duo Peter Asher (born June 22, 1944 ) and Gordon Waller (born June 4, 1945 , † July 17, 2009 ) performed as a singing duo in cafes and clubs during their time at London's Westminster School . From 1962 they called themselves Peter & Gordon. In January 1964 they were discovered by the music producer Norman Newell in a London club. Peter Asher's sister, actress Jane Asher , was friends with Paul McCartney at the time, and Paul McCartney wrote the song A World Without Love for the duo , which appeared on Columbia in April 1964 on Peter & Gordon's first single . At the same time the song was released on Capitol Records in the USA . A World Without Love became an international hit that not only stormed to the top of the charts in the UK and the US, but also topped the charts in Ireland , Canada and New Zealand . In the following years, Peter & Gordon published several compositions by McCartney (with or without John Lennon ), with the latter using the pseudonym "Bernard Webb" for the song Woman to see whether successes can be achieved without a well-known name. The duo's success, produced by Norman Newell, was based on the Close Harmony style of singing as with the Everly Brothers . By 1967, British Columbia produced 21 singles with Peter & Gorden, which Capitol brought to market in the USA almost at the same time. 15 titles came into the British and American charts, including five other top 10 successes in addition to A World Without Love . Both record companies also produced several music albums with Peter & Gordon, seven of which were included in the LP charts in the USA.

Peter & Gordon had their only appearances in Germany in June 1966 as the opening act for the BRAVO Beatles blitz tour . In 1968 the duo broke up. Solo attempts by Gordon Waller failed. Peter Asher was initially A&R manager at the Beatles company Apple and later a successful manager and producer of James Taylor , Linda Ronstadt , Randy Newman and many others.

The song A World Without Love was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the list of the 500 songs that shaped rock 'n' roll the most . In August 2005, Peter Asher and Gordon Waller were on stage together for the first time in 38 years. Until 2009 they performed several concerts in the USA. Shortly thereafter, Gordon Waller died of a heart attack at the age of 64.

Discography

Vinyl singles

From page Catalog no. publication
Columbia / UK *
A World Without Love / If I Were You 7225 April 28, 1964
Nobody I Know / You Don't Have to Tell Me 7292 May 29, 1964
I Don't Want to See You Again / I Would Buy 7356 September 11, 1964
I Go to Pieces / Love Me Baby 7407 November 20, 1964
True Love Ways / If You Wish 7524 March 26, 1965
To Know You Is to Love You / I Told You So 7617 June 11, 1965
Baby I'm Yours / When the Black of Your Eyes 7729 October 15, 1965
Woman / Wrong from the Start 7834 February 11, 1966
To Show I Love You / Don't Pity Me 7951 June 24, 1966
Lady Godiva / Morning's Calling 8003 September 9, 1966
Knight in Rusty Armor / The Flower Lady 8075 November 25, 1966
Sunday for Tea / Start Trying Someone Else 8159 May 23, 1967
The Jokers / Red, Cream and Velvet 8198 May 26, 1967
I Feel Like Going Out / The Quest for the Holy Grail 8398 April 11, 1968
You've Had Better Times / Sipping My Wine 8451 July 12, 1968
I Can Remember / Hard Time, Rainy Day 8585 May 19, 1969
Capitol / USA **
Don't Pity Me / Crying in the Rain 5532 October 26, 1965
There's No Living Without Your Loving / A Stranger with a Black Dove 5650 April 25, 1966
Lady Godiva / The Town I Live In 5740 September 24, 1966
Sunday for Tea / Hurtin 'Is Lovin' 5864 May 13, 1967
Greener Days / Never Ever 2071 December 30, 1967

* also released in the US by Capitol
** released in the US only

Vinyl music albums

title Catalog no. publication
UK
Peter and Gordon Columbia 1630 1964
In Touch with Peter to Gordon Columbia 1660 1964
I go to pieces Columbia 25 * 1965
Hurtin 'N' Lovin ' Columbia 1761 1965
Woman Columbia 29 * 1966
The Best of Peter and Gordon Columbia 31 * 1966
Peter and Gordon Columbia 6045 1966
Somewhere Columbia 6097 1966
United States
A World Without Love Capitol 2115 5/1964
I don't want to see you again Capitol 2220 12/1964
True Love Ways Capitol 2368 7/1965
The Hits of Nashville, Tennessee Capitol 2430 10/1966
Lady Godiva Capitol 2664 1/1967
Knight in Rusty Armor Capitol 2729 3/1967
In London for Tea Capitol 2747 6/1967
Hot Cold & Custard Capitol 2882 11/1968

* Also published in the US by Capitol

Chart placements

Albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US
1964 Peter and Gordon UK18 (1 week)
UK 		-
A world without love - US21 (14 weeks)
US
1965 I don't want to see you again - US95 (11 weeks)
US
I go to pieces - US51 (15 weeks)
US
True Love Ways - US49 (13 weeks)
US
1966 Woman - US60 (14 weeks)
US
The Best of Peter and Gordon - US72 (12 weeks)
US
1967 Lady Godiva - US80 (13 weeks)
US

Singles

A World Without Love
on Columbia
year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
UK UK US US
1964 A world without love UK1 (14 weeks)
UK 		US1 (12 weeks)
US
Nobody I know UK10 (11 weeks)
UK 		US12 (9 weeks)
US
I don't want to see you again - US16 (9 weeks)
US
1965 I go to pieces - US9 (11 weeks)
US
True Love Ways UK2 (15 weeks)
UK 		US14 (11 weeks)
US
To know you is to love you UK5 (10 weeks)
UK 		US24 (7 weeks)
US
Baby I'm Yours UK19 (9 weeks)
UK 		-
Don't Pity Me - US83 (4 weeks)
US
1966 Woman UK28 (7 weeks)
UK 		US14 (12 weeks)
US
There's No Living without Your Loving - US50 (7 weeks)
US
To Show I Love You - US98 (2 weeks)
US
Lady Godiva UK16 (11 weeks)
UK 		US6 (14 weeks)
US
The Knight in Rusty Armor - US15 (9 weeks)
US
1967 Sunday for Tea - US31 (6 weeks)
US
The Jokers - US97 (1 week)
US

literature

  • Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3. revised Edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 516f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .
  • Frank Laufenberg: Rock & Pop Lexicon . Econ Taschenbuch Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-612-26207-6 , Vol. 2, p. 1161.

swell

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: UK US

Web links