Part Seven: Reunited Again

2002-2011

After fifteen years apart, C&J found that making music was simply too much fun to not do again...

Throughout the 1990s, much like the 1970s, C&J's relationship was distant at times. This was simply the natural product of two people living very different lives on two separate continents - but they reconnected at the beginning of the 2000s. It was the sort of friendship that lasts and is easily rekindled.

At the close of the 1990s Chad could see that the internet would change music forever and was already opening up real possibilities for artists to go around the traditional system and succeed. Artists at last could make music the way they want to, when and how they want to, and distribute it directly to their fans. He had never stopped writing and recording, and he wanted to share that with the world.

Chad & Jeremy's dissolution in the 1980s resulted in disillusionment with the recording industry, and with the business as a whole - the system had let them down, and C&J were left holding the bag in many respects. Their big comeback album was sent straight to the cutout bins because the label president went to jail, and they were unable to secure a new deal in spite of the obvious promise of their new material.

Now, they both felt it was time for some of this material to be heard by the public. Meanwhile, Jeremy had not stopped writing either, and found himself increasingly missing the musical side of his life. Jeremy was definitely interested in recording again. But baby steps were needed before the 'big plunge'.

In April and June of 2002, Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde returned to their roots with a transatlantic re-recording of their very first record, "Yesterday's Gone,” released as a bonus track on Chad & Jeremy In Concert 1987: The Official Bootleg, an archival recording of one of their final 1980s reunion concerts. In Concert was released to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. At the time of recording that first reunion song, there was still no viable plan for a reunion concert, although it was something that C&J were interested in exploring. In stepped PBS.

Early 2003, the possibility of another full-fledged reunion became a reality. When in June 2003, Chad and Jeremy reunited in Provence, France to rehearse for upcoming live shows, it marked the first time since September of 1987 that the two had played together in the same room. Yet their sound was as sweet as ever it was. The duo performed in Cleveland, Ohio on August 12th, as a part of a British Invasion concert being filmed for broadcast on PBS. They sounded as if the 15 years since their last reunion had been only 15 weeks. Immediately after the show, they promised each other that they had to tour again. It was too much fun not to.

From 2004 until Chad’s retirement in 2016, live shows became an annual tradition every spring and fall, as Chad and Jeremy toured the United States and beyond. During the '6season' from touring, Jeremy continued to feature in plays and television roles in the UK, while Chad continued to teach music and record in Idaho. During these years, Jeremy featured in roles in Eastenders, My Family, Ashes To Ashes, as well as a recurring role as disgraced Conservative politician Johnathan Aitken in The Alan Clark Diaries, and as a guest in Downton Abbey. 

In September of 2003 C&J began working in the studio again and recording demos, some of which would become the basis of the first of their 'tour CDs,’ which were exclusively sold to concert goers from 2004-2007. Chad's "Electric Paintbox" studio became the locale for C&J's 21st Century recordings.

Twice in the 2000s, Chad & Jeremy took their live show abroad to appreciative audiences in the Philippines. A tour there in 2004 led to a return visit with the Association in 2007. They also shared bills with Denny Laine, Billy J. Kramer, Terry Sylvester of the Hollies, Peter Noone, and many others - all while resisting the temptation to ever become merely an "oldies" act. They modeled their shows as truly an evening with Chad & Jeremy - playing the hits, charming with their humor, and featuring a wide variety of unheard or rare material new or old. In 2008, C&J finally got the chance to perform live with another great British duo - Peter & Gordon - sharing the bill for a concert and ending the show with an encore of "Bye Bye Love.”

Their first major retail release in decades was issued in late 2008, in the form of ARK-eology, a collection of their personal favourite songs from the 1960s era arranged in reverse chronological order to represent the layers of soil that a Chad & Jeremy ARK-eologist would have to uncover to rediscover these classics in their ultimate recorded editions. Plans were afoot to finally record the album of new material they had planned on recording since 1984. Sadly, life got in the way yet again, and although many tracks were demoed or partially recorded, the final C&J LP was left unfinished. 

During 2011 and 2012, Chad & Jeremy were featured on two different PBS Specials and released a new live album entitled Reflection. During this period they took time away from touring together to pursue opportunities to branch out in their own directions. Jeremy took a leading role in the award-winning West End play Three Days In May and Chad embarked on his first solo performance tour since the 1970s. This meant a break from the traditional twice-yearly touring schedule, but by the time the group was name-checked on the popular Mad Men television show and the strains of 'A Summer Song' were heard in the summer blockbuster Men In Black III, Chad & Jeremy were gearing up for their return to the stage for the fall of 2012.