Gordon Waller, of Peter and Gordon

July 21, 2009
Gordon Waller, a Partner in the Band Peter and Gordon, Dies at 64
By DOUGLAS MARTIN

Gordon Waller, who formed half of Peter and Gordon, a successful pop duo that followed the Beatles to America as part of the British Invasion of the 1960s and that scored a No. 1 hit with “A World Without Love,” died on Friday in Norwich, Conn. He was 64 and lived in Ledyard, Conn.

His death was announced on the official Peter and Gordon Web site, peterandgordon.net. It gave the cause as cardiac arrest.

Mr. Waller and Peter Asher played acoustic guitars and brought vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Everly Brothers to their own synthesis of folk, blues and rock ’n’ roll. An important ingredient in their success was a steady supply of songs written by Paul McCartney that the Beatles themselves did not record.

By October 1963, Mr. McCartney was dating Mr. Asher’s sister, the actress Jane Asher, and Peter and Gordon had signed a record contract with EMI. They turned to Mr. McCartney to provide a song for them. Knowing he was writing “A World Without Love,” they asked him to finish it for them so they could record it.

The tune became a Top 10 hit in Britain, where it displaced the Beatles’ own “Can’t Buy Me Love” on the charts. It was then issued on the Capitol label in the United States, where it became one of the most successful singles of 1964.

The song, a lilting, plaintive ballad, opens with the lyrics, “Please lock me away/And don’t allow the day/Here inside, where I hide with my loneliness/I don’t care what they say, I won’t stay/In a world without love.”

Peter and Gordon toured the United States and appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and other network variety shows — part of a wave of British groups that swept the United States, among them Chad and Jeremy, the Dave Clark Five and Herman’s Hermits.

Two more McCartney songs that year brought Peter and Gordon even more success: “Nobody I Know” and “I Don’t Want to See You Again.” (Though Mr. McCartney has been widely cited as having written all these songs, he shared credit with John Lennon, their practice at the time.)

Another hit for the duo was Mr. McCartney’s “Woman” (1966), which he wrote under the pseudonym Bernard Webb to see if he could score a hit without the Lennon-McCartney names attached.

Peter and Gordon toured with the Beatles and other big-name groups, like the Rolling Stones. They had at least nine hits, including Del Shannon’s “I Go to Pieces,” the Buddy Holly song “True Love Ways,” “Lady Godiva” and “Knight in Rusty Armor,” all from the mid-60s.

Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller was born in Braemar, Scotland, on June 4, 1945. He attended the Westminster School in London, where he met Mr. Asher. Of the two, Mr. Waller had the greater interest in rock ’n’ roll at first, and he converted Mr. Asher from “a snooty jazz fan to a true rock ’n’ roll believer as well,” Mr. Asher said in a statement.

The boys got guitars and were soon violating the school’s 9 p.m. curfew by sneaking out to play in coffeehouses and nightclubs. That involved climbing a 12-foot-high, spike-topped wall. They were originally known as Gordon and Peter.

“I am just a harmony guy and Gordon was the heart and soul of our duo,” Mr. Asher wrote.

By late 1967, the hits were no longer coming, and both singers were enjoying the work less, Mr. Asher said in a recent interview with classicbands.com. They split in 1968. Mr. Asher went on to manage stars like James Taylor and produce records, while Mr. Waller tried singing as a solo act.

In the 1970s, Mr. Waller played the part of Pharaoh in the musical “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” in productions in London and Australia, and released a solo album titled “and Gordon.” He later ran a music publishing business.

In recent years, Mr. Waller and Mr. Asher reunited to perform occasionally as Peter and Gordon.

Mr. Waller is survived by his wife, Jen, whom he married in 2008, and two daughters from an earlier marriage, The Guardian in London reported.

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HWV

A regular patron, who almost always asks for music, asked about the libretto for Haendel's Saul. It is missing -- but I did find that the Great Neck Library owns it. On that record, the alternate title is listed as: Saul : oratorio in three acts, HWV 53.

So, what is is HWV? The Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis (abbreviated as HWV) is the Catalogue of Handel's Works. Aside from the Wikipedia entry, there is (of course) a website devoted to Haendel's works.

What I was actually thinking about was BWV: Bach's works, for which there are defintions and websites.

'Kind of Blue'

Miles Davis's album ranks as one of the best jazz recordings of all time.


"Kind of Blue" ranks as Davis's most esteemed recording. Despite its complete lack of vocals, the disc became his best-selling album, totaling four million copies and still moving about 5,000 copies a week.

Davis once famously said, "Don't play what you know, play what you don't know." His players' improvisations here sound clean, fresh and original, as they nimbly respond to the challenge of unfamiliar pieces and the novel organizing principle of modes.

Not all critics think this is Davis's best recording, but it is unquestionably his most iconic and, for many, the quintessential jazz album.

Teenage dating

A patron came in this morning looking for help in getting articles on teenage dating. At first I asked if it was a college project (she did look fairly young, enough so to be in college). No, it was for a presentation to high school students. Are you a high school teacher? I asked. No, a psychologist. She's been asked to speak before high school students about recent incident: a singer, Rihanna, (hip-hop? An article describes her as R&B, reggae and pop) was beaten to a pulp by her boyfriend, Chris Brown.

The psychologist's presentation (20 minutes, she said) will discuss date violence and related topics. I showed her Galenet, and she found enough material. She emailed herself articles, and her Blackberry would blink each time one was received.

Here is an editorial in today's Daily News (I note that the singers are 21 and 19, hardly mature; add the money they are raking in, the adulation from thjeir fans, and the notoriety, and it does not make a good mix):

The beat goes on: Rihanna can teach valuable lessons to domestic-abuse victims

Talented, popular and rich, pop singers Chris Brown and Rihanna are giving America a look into the brutality and persistent dangers of domestic and dating violence. He's fast with his fists, yet she's slow to leave him.

Brown, 19, was arrested in Los Angeles for doing a horrific number on Rihanna, 21, in a fit of jealous rage. The pummeling was apparently only the latest episode in which he became physical with her. But shocking photos of her bruised, bloodied face have given way to the disturbing spectacle of reconciliation.

Experts everywhere - along with talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, who is devoting today's program to the topic - say that most abusers are repeat offenders.

With depressing predictability, domestic violence victims convince themselves that next time will be different, that it will never happen again. But too often it does happen again. And many a woman has followed the myth to serious injury and even death.

Young as she is, Rihanna will have to work the issue out herself. Hopefully, she'll set a positive example for women in violent relationships. Pray that she does not become an object lesson in the mortal perils of taking a guy back one too many times.