RIP Gordon Waller (Peter and Gordon)

The duo was most famous for "A World Without Love," which went to No. 1, but I also liked "I Go To Pieces" and "Woman." Many of their hits were written by Paul McCartney, who was dating Peter Asher's sister, Jane.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Obituary/article/668904

McCartney actually wrote "Woman" under a pseudonym (Bernard Webb, IIRC) as an experiment to see if it could become a hit without the "Lennon-McCartney" songwriting credit on the record label. It did, deservedly so.

 

Sadly, he never came to any of our family reunions.

RIP to a (very, very, very) distant cousin.

 

I don't care what they say, we can't stay.

R.I.P. And Sam, any idea what the guy did after the mid-1960s?

 

No idea.

Never heard much from Uncle Fats, either.

Actually, my family has been farming/ranching in Texas for the last five generations, so any connection really is extremely distant. One of the aunts did some genealogy work that traced the line back to England in the early 18th century. The first ones off the boat apparently settled in Virginia. The Williamsburg phone book has two or three pages of Wallers. The town I was born in has something like five total listings for the name, and I'm related to all of them.

 

I read in one of my handy-dandy Billboard books that he starred in a production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in the '70s, but I don't know where or for how long.

EDIT: It was 1971 in Edinburgh, but he also appeared in the play in London, according to this Los Angeles Times article. He was also in music publishing.

Nice to see that Peter and Gordon had reunited a few years ago - for a benefit for the dying Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five, no less.

"Gordon remains one of my very favorite singers of all time, and I am still so proud of the work that we did together," Asher said in his statement. "I am just a harmony guy, and Gordon was the heart and soul of our duo."

 

Mr J,

Strictly from memory, P & G did a British-Invasion episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show. They were hiding at the Petries before the Alan Brady Show.

o-<

 

great pull. 8)