Bill and Boyd

William "Bill" Cate (born 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]

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 appeared 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] 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.[11]

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,[12] 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.[12]

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.[13] 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.[14]