Bill and Boyd were a pop music duo from 1959 to 1989 consisting of William "Bill" Cate (10 October 1940 - 29 November 2020) and William "Boyd" Robertson (born 1941), both on lead vocals and lead guitar, which started recording in 1960. They began their careers in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand before relocating to Sydney by 1964. In 1968 they toured United States supporting

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful ...

and

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s. During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded 28 albums that have landed on the ...

. Bill and Boyd's highest-charting single, "

Santa Never Made It into Darwin "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" is a charity single, recorded by Bill and Boyd. It was written by the band's William Cate. Funds raised supported the Australian city of Darwin, Northern Territory, following the damage wrought by Cyclone Tracy ...

", peaked at No. 2 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Singles Chart in early 1975. It was a

charity single A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. George Harrison's " Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-mad ...

in support of rebuilding Darwin after its devastation by

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city initially, but then turned t ...

on the previous Christmas Eve – Christmas Day. At the

Country Music Awards of Australia The Country Music Awards of Australia also known as the Golden Guitar Awards (originally named Australasian Country Music Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wales ...

of 1976 "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" won the

APRA APRA or Apra may refer to: Places *Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India * Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam Acronyms * American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...

Song of the Year for the duo and Cate its writer. Their self-titled album from 1975 reached No. 1 on the New Zealand Albums Chart, while "Put Another Log on the Fire" reached No. 5 on the related New Zealand Singles Chart and No. 23 in Australia. The duo continued together until 1989. Cate formed a self-titled trio.

History

William "Bill" Cate (1940–2020) and William "Boyd" Robertson (born 1941) both attended

Naenae College Naenae College, is a state-run coeducational secondary school located in north-central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is situated on a site in the suburb of Avalon. The school was founded in 1953 to serve the Naenae state housing development, alt ...

, a secondary school in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

, in the mid-1950s. They started practising pop music in Robertson's bedroom and recorded a home version of "Angel" in about 1956. They formed a duo, Bill and Boyd, with both on lead vocals and lead guitar. They began public performances at local halls including a residency at Lower Hutt's Town Hall. Their early repertoire was cover versions of overseas artists, especially

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

and Elvis Presley. In 1959 they supported local rock and roller,

Johnny Devlin John Lockett Devlin (born 11 May 1938) is a New Zealand singer, songwriter and rock musician, who has been compared to Elvis Presley. His cover of Lloyd Price's "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" in 1958 went to number one in the New Zealand charts with s ...

, in

. By 1960 they had signed with Peak Records label, and issued five singles over the following year including "Fall in Love with You" and their cover of " Corrina, Corrina". Late in 1961 they switched labels to

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

and two years later relocated to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. During 1963 they toured with

Peter Posa Peter Paul Posa (8 August 1941 – 3 February 2019) was a New Zealand guitarist most famous for his instrumental "The White Rabbit", which was released in 1963. The song is a guitar instrumental that sold 100,000 copies. Career Posa was bor ...

Max Merritt Maxwell James Merritt (30 April 1941 – 24 September 2020) was a New Zealand-born singer-songwriter and guitarist who was renowned as an interpreter of soul music and R&B. As leader of Max Merritt & The Meteors, his best known hits are " Slipp ...

and

Dinah Lee Diane Marie Jacobs (born 19 August 1943), known as Dinah Lee, is a New Zealand singer who performed 1960s pop and adult contemporary music. Her debut single from early 1964, "Don't You Know Yockomo?", achieved No. 1 chart success in New Zea ...

. By 1964 they had relocated to Sydney with the release of their single, " Chulu Chululu", receiving attention in Australia. The track was co-written by Cate and Robertson. In the early sixties they had three hit singles on the Lever Hit Parade, the biggest, a cover of the Everly Brothers hit "

Cathy's Clown "Cathy's Clown" is a popular song, written by Don Everly and recorded by The Everly Brothers in 1960. The lyrics describe a man who has been wronged and publicly humiliated by his lover: "Here he comes / That's Cathy's clown". The choruses are s ...

" which went to number one in 1960. Through the late 1960s they released further singles, extended plays and albums, gained popularity, toured the club circuit and regularly appeared on national TV shows, ''

Bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

'' and ''

Six O'Clock Rock ''Six O'Clock Rock'' was an Australian rock and roll television show broadcast on ABC from 28 February 1959 to 1962 at 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Program synopsis Inspired by the BBC program '' 6.5 Special'', it had a similar format to its riva ...

''. During February 1966 they supported an Australian tour by folk-pop group,

The Seekers The Seekers were an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were ...

. ''

The Canberra Times ''The Canberra Times'' is a daily newspaper in Canberra, Australia, which is published by Australian Community Media. It was founded in 1926, and has changed ownership and format several times. History ''The Canberra Times'' was launched in ...

'' Garry Raffaele caught their performance in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

and felt the duo were "more suited to night-club work although they were very well received by last night's audience. Their boy-next-door image even allowed Boyd to get away with a couple of slightly queer jokes". In September 1967 Bill and Boyd's version of the ''Fiddler on the Roof'' track " If I Were a Rich Man" was issued on Sunshine Records and peaked at No. 24 on the ''

Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...

'' National Top 40. In 1968 they toured United States supporting

and

. By 1970 they had signed with independent label, Fable Records, which released Bill and Boyd's version of "

It's a Small World "It's a Small World" is a water-based boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks worldwide, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo Di ...

". On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1974

devastated the Northern Territory capital, Darwin. Cate wrote "

", which was released as a charity single in January the following year by Bill and Boyd to support the city's rebuilding. It peaked at No. 2 on the Australian

Singles Chart. and sold 50,000 copies in eight weeks. At the

of 1976 "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" won

Song of the Year for the duo and Cate its writer. A follow up single, "Put Another Log on the Fire", was a cover version of

Tompall Glaser Thomas Paul "Tompall" Glaser (September 3, 1933 – August 12, 2013) was an American outlaw country music artist. Biography Glaser was born in Spalding, Nebraska, the son of Alice Harriet Marie (née Davis) and Louis Nicholas Glaser. He was ...

's hit from the same year. Bill and Boyd's version reached No. 5 on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

, and No. 23 in Australia. The duo's self-titled album was issued in December 1975 and peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand Albums Chart. In June 1976 visiting US artist,

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

, hosted ''Down Home, Down Under'' on

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

with guests including the duo alongside

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

John Meillon John Meillon, ( ; 1 May 1934 – 11 August 1989), was an Australian character actor, known for many straight as well as comedy roles, he became most widely known internationally as Walter Reilly in the films ''Crocodile Dundee'' and ''Crocodil ...

and Sherbet. Bill and Boyd continued performing on the club circuit until 1989. In 2003 Bruce Ward curated a CD compilation album, ''The Very Best of Bill and Boyd'' which was issued by EMI Music New Zealand.

Discography

Albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Charting singles

{, class="wikitable" , - ! rowspan="2", Year ! rowspan="2", Single ! colspan="2" , Chart positions ! rowspan="2", Certification , - ! {{small, AUS ! {{small, NZ , - , 1960 , , "

" , style="text-align:center;", , style="text-align:center;", 1 , , - , 1961 , , "Surrender My Love" , style="text-align:center;", , style="text-align:center;", 7 , , - , 1962 , , "Double Trouble" , style="text-align:center;", , style="text-align:center;", 8 , , - , 1967 , " If I Were a Rich Man" , style="text-align:center;", 24 , style="text-align:center;", , , - , 1970 , "

" , style="text-align:center;", 51 , style="text-align:center;", , , - , rowspan="3", 1975 , "

" , style="text-align:center;", 2 , style="text-align:center;", , * AUS: Gold , - , "Union Silver" , style="text-align:center;", 98 , style="text-align:center;", , , - , "Put Another Log on the Fire" , style="text-align:center;", 23 , style="text-align:center;", 5 , , - , 1976 , "Questions" , style="text-align:center;", 84 , style="text-align:center;", ,

Awards

Australian Record Awards

{{awards table , - , 1975 , "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" , Song of the Year , {{won

Country Music Awards of Australia

The

(CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second bigg ...

, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973. {{awards table , - , 1976 , "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" , APRA Song of the Year , {{won {{end

Mo Awards

The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the

Mo Awards The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards) were an annual Australian entertainment industry award, that where established in 1975, to recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia. They were l ...

), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Bill and Boyd won 9 awards in that time.{{cite web, url=https://www.moawards.com.au/awardwinners, title=MO Award Winners, website=Mo Awards, access-date=14 March 2022 {{awards table (wins only) , - , 1975 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1976 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1977 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1980 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1981 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1982 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1983 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1984 , Bill and Boyd , Vocal Duo of the Year , {{won , - , 1991 , Bill and Boyd , 1&2 Man Band of the Year , {{won , - {{end

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite web , url = http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23134845?search%5bpath%5d=items&search%5btext%5d=%22Bill+and+Boyd%22 , title = [Bill and Boyd]: ['Angel'] , publisher =

National Library of New Zealand The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...

, accessdate = 29 March 2014 , quote = First recording made by Bill & Boyd. It was made from a tape they recorded on an old Phillips machine in Boyd's bedroom in Naenae in the mid 1950s {{cite web , url = http://www.sergent.com.au/music/billboyd.html , title = Bill and Boyd , last = Sergent , first = Bruce , work = New Zealand Music of the 60's, 70's and a bit of 80's , publisher = Bruce Sergent , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cite web , url = http://www.audioculture.co.nz/people/bill-boyd , title = Bill & Boyd – Person , last = Bourke , first = Chris , work = Audio Culture: The noisy library of New Zealand music , publisher = Digital Media Trust (Simon Grigg, Murray Cammick, Steven Shaw) , date = 27 November 2013 , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cite web , publisher =

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwr ...

(APRA) , title = 'Chulu Chululu' at APRA search engine , url = http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/worksearch.axd?q=Chulu%20Chululu , accessdate = 29 March 2014 Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g Chulu Chululu; or at 'Performer:' Bill and Boyd {{cite news , url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105887210 , title=Seekers' night , last=Raffaele , first=Garry , newspaper=

, date=16 February 1966 , accessdate=29 March 2014 , page=21 , via=National Library of Australia {{cite web , url = http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1967/19670906.html , last1 = Nimmervoll , first1 = Ed , authorlink1 = Ed Nimmervoll , work =

, title = National Top 40 , publisher = Waverley Press , date = 6 September 1967 , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cite news , url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107042879 , title=Two who enjoy their success , newspaper=The Canberra Times , date=21 March 1968 , accessdate=29 March 2014 , page=9 , via=National Library of Australia {{cite web , publisher =

(APRA) , title = 'Santa Never Made It into Darwin' at APRA search engine , url = http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/worksearch.axd?q=Santa%20Never%20Made%20It%20into%20Darwin , accessdate = 29 March 2014 Note: User may have to click 'Search again' and provide details at 'Enter a title:' e.g Santa Never Made It into Darwin; or at 'Performer:' Bill and Boyd {{cite web , url = http://country.com.au/golden-guitars/award-winners/1970s/ , title = 1970's :: Country Music Australia , publisher =

Country Music Association of Australia The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry. As the peak national industry body, its activities include organisation, promotion and stagin ...

, accessdate = 29 March 2014 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140125225429/http://country.com.au/golden-guitars/award-winners/1970s/ , archive-date = 25 January 2014 , url-status = dead {{cite web , url = https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Bill+%26+Boyd , title = Discography Bill & Boyd , publisher = New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung) , last = Hung , first = Steffen , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{Cite book , title = Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 , last1 = Kent , first1 = David , authorlink1 = David Kent (historian) , publisher = Australian Chart Book Ltd , location = St Ives, NSW , year = 1993 , isbn = 0-646-11917-6 Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. * Philips Records: {{cite web , archiveurl = https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080306130200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/35967/20080307-0002/www.milesago.com/industry/philips.html , url = http://www.milesago.com/industry/philips.html , title = Record Labels – Philips Records (Australia) , last1 = Kimball , first1 = Duncan , publisher = Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975. Ice Productions , archivedate = 7 March 2008 , year = 2002 , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cbignore, bot=medic * Sunshine Records: {{cite web , archiveurl = https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080306130200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/35967/20080307-0002/www.milesago.com/industry/sunshine-2.html , url = http://www.milesago.com/industry/sunshine-2.html , title = Record Labels – Sunshine Records , last1 = Kimball , first1 = Duncan , publisher = Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975. Ice Productions , archivedate = 7 March 2008 , year = 2002 , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cbignore, bot=medic * Fable Records: {{cite web , archiveurl = https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080306130200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/35967/20080307-0002/www.milesago.com/industry/fable.html , url = http://www.milesago.com/industry/fable.html , title = Record Labels – Fable Records , last1 = Kimball , first1 = Duncan , publisher = Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964–1975. Ice Productions , archivedate = 7 March 2008 , year = 2002 , accessdate = 29 March 2014 {{cbignore, bot=medic {{cite news , url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46458566 , title=Glen Campbell: Getting down to it down under , last=Eisenhuth , first=Susie , newspaper=

The Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by ...

, date=2 June 1976 , accessdate=29 March 2014 , pages=24–25 , via=National Library of Australia {{Citation , author1=Bill & Boyd , author2=Ward, Bruce , title=The very best of Bill & Boyd , publication-date=2003 , publisher=EMI Music New Zealand. National Library of Australia , url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/28114147 , accessdate=29 March 2014 , quote = Notes: Originally recorded and released by Stetson Records, and

Stebbing Studios Stebbing Studios is a recording studio in Auckland, New Zealand. Artists who have had their work recorded over the years, include: Ray Columbus & The Invaders, Bill & Boyd, Gary Havoc & The Hurricanes, The Human Instinct, and Waves. Background Th ...

between 1961 and 1978 {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Bill and Boyd 20th-century Australian male singers Australian musical duos Australian guitarists Australian male guitarists 20th-century New Zealand male singers New Zealand guitarists New Zealand emigrants to Australia Musical groups established in 1959 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 New Zealand musical duos People educated at Naenae College EMI Records artists Philips Records artists New Zealand male guitarists 1959 establishments in New Zealand