Bill and Boyd

William "Bill" Cate (1940–2020) and William "Boyd" Robertson (born 1941) both attended Naenae College, a secondary school in Lower Hutt, in the mid-1950s.[1][2][3] They started practising pop music in Robertson's bedroom and recorded a home version of "Angel" in about 1956.[1] They formed a duo, Bill and Boyd, with both on lead vocals and lead guitar.[2][3] They began public performances at local halls including a residency at Lower Hutt's Town Hall.[3] Their early repertoire was cover versions of overseas artists, especially The Everly Brothers and Elvis Presley.[2][3] In 1959 they supported local rock and roller, Johnny Devlin, in Wellington.[3]

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".[2][3] Late in 1961 they switched labels to Philips Records and two years later relocated to Auckland.[2] During 1963 they toured with Peter Posa, Max Merritt and Dinah Lee.[2] By 1964 they had relocated to Sydney with the release of their single, "Chulu Chululu", receiving attention in Australia.[2] The track was co-written by Cate and Robertson.[4] 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" 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 and Six O'Clock Rock.[2][3] During February 1966 they supported an Australian tour by folk-pop group, The Seekers.[5] The Canberra Times' Garry Raffaele caught their performance in Canberra 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".[5] 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 National Top 40.[6] In 1968 they toured United States supporting The Supremes and Herb Alpert.[2][7]

By 1970 they had signed with independent label, Fable Records, which released Bill and Boyd's version of "It's a Small World".[2][8] On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1974 Cyclone Tracy devastated the Northern Territory capital, Darwin. Cate wrote "Santa Never Made It into Darwin",[9] which was released as a charity single in January the following year by Bill and Boyd to support the city's rebuilding.[2] It peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart.[10] and sold 50,000 copies in eight weeks.[11] At the Country Music Awards of Australia of 1976 "Santa Never Made It into Darwin" won APRA Song of the Year for the duo and Cate its writer.[12]

A follow-up single, "Put Another Log on the Fire", was a cover version of Tompall Glaser's hit from the same year. Bill and Boyd's version reached No. 5 on the New Zealand Singles Chart,[13] and No. 23 in Australia.[10][2] The duo's self-titled album was issued in December 1975 and peaked at No. 1 on the New Zealand Albums Chart.[13]

In June 1976 visiting US artist, Glen Campbell, hosted Down Home, Down Under on Nine Network with guests including the duo alongside Olivia Newton-John, John Meillon and Sherbet.[14] Bill and Boyd continued performing on the club circuit until 1989.[3] In 2003 Bruce Ward curated a CD compilation album, The Very Best of Bill and Boyd which was issued by EMI Music New Zealand.[15]