Singer Gordon Waller dies

[mrjukebox]

Gordon Waller,who was one half of the British musical duo Peter & Gordon,has died at the age of 64-Waller,who resided in Ledyard,CT,was rushed to the hospital on Thursday (7/17)-Yesterday morning,he succumbed to cardiac arrest-Waller,along with his partner Peter Asher,had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960's-Their breakthrough smash & only #1 song was "A World Without Love" in the summer of 1964-Their subsequent releases included "I Don't Want To See You Again","Nobody I Know" & "Woman",which was written by Paul Mc Cartney under the pseudonym of Bernard Webb-Check out Peter & Gordon's website for a statement from Peter Asher,in which he comments on the passing of his longtime friend.

[Rob Durkee]

By ROCKIN' ROBIN

Gordon Waller, who was half of the British duo Peter and Gordon during the British invasion 1960's, died of heart failure Friday, July 17, 2009 at a hospital near his home in Ledyard, Connecticut. He was 64.

Peter and Gordon burst onto the pop music scene in June, 1964, when their first USA pop chart single, "A World Without Love," went to #1. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, it marked the first time a song written by the Beatles but not performed by the Fab Four shot to the top of the Cash Box pop chart. What helped the duo's success was that McCartney was dating Peter Asher's sister, Jane, at the time.

The Lennon-McCartney song-writing team wrote two subsequent top 40 hits for Peter And Gordon. "Nobody I Know," the followup to "A World Without Love," reached #12 while "I Don't Want To See You Again" peaked at #18. McCartney wrote another Peter and Gordon hit, "Woman," by himself but wanted to find out if he could succeed as a songwriter with an alias. Thus, even though he wrote "Woman," he was credited on the record label as Bernard Webb. Peter And Gordon's "Woman" reached #17 in 1966 but shouldn't be confused with the 1981 pop and AC hit of the same title by John Lennon. These were two different songs that shared the same title.

Peter And Gordon had a knack for coming up with hit songs written by prominent performers. For instance, "I Go To Pieces," which peaked at #6 in early 1965, was written by Del Shannon. "True Love Ways," a #13 Cash Box hit in the spring of 1965, was written and originally sung by Buddy Holly. The next single, "To Know You Is to Love You," was a #25 hit written by Phil Spector. The song was originally a #1 hit in late 1958 for Spector's then-group, the Teddy Bears. Its original title was "To Know Him Is To Love Him" and was based on what was on the gravestone of Spector's father.

Peter and Gordon also had Top 40 hits with "Lady Godiva" (#5), "Knight In Rusty Armour" (#13) and "Sunday For Tea" (#22).

Gordon Waller was born June 4, 1945 in Braemar, Scotland. He and Asher met when they were teenagers attending the prestigious Westminster School in London. They originally called themselves Gordon and Peter in their early years when they sang at school events and neighborhood night clubs. Peter And Gordon broke up around late 1967/early 1968. Asher would go on to fame as the producer of performers like Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor.

Waller, meanwhile, turned to a solo career and released one album entitled "And Gordon." At one time, he was part of the play "Joseph And The Amazing Technocolor Dreamcoat." He would have solo LP's released in 2007 and 2008, too.

Peter and Gordon reunited in 2005, when they performed at a benefit concert for Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five. They would continue to perform together around the world for about the next three years. Their final performance together was August of last year, when they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their final performance of the 1960's with a concert at Los Angeles' Santa Monica Pier. They were joined onstage by Joan Baez.

Reflecting on his long-time friendship with Waller, Asher said on the duo's MySpace page, "The idea that I shall never get to sing those songs with him again, that I shall never again be able to get annoyed when he interrupts me on stage or to laugh at his unpredictable sense of humor or even to admire his newest model train or his latest gardening effort is an unthinkable change in my life with which I have not even begun to come to terms."