https://variety.com/2023/music/news/ray-hildebrand-dead-paul-paula-pop-duo-1235700560/

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Aug 19, 2023 5:13pm PT

The ‘Paul’ of 1960s Pop Duo ‘Paul & Paula,’ Ray Hildebrand, Dies at 82

By Chris Willman

Ray Hildebrand, who topped the pop charts in the 1960s as half of the duo Paul & Paula, died Friday in Kansas City at age 82. No cause of death has been given.

Paul & Paula reached No. 1 in 1963 with the breakout smash “Hey Paula,” written by Hildebrand himself and performed in collaboration with duet partner Jill Jackson under their mutual nom de plume. The song was released in 1962 and reached the peak of two Billboard charts — the Hot 100 and the Hot R&B Singles chart — in February of the following year

Their run of success was a short one, as all four of the songs Paul & Paula pushed into the Hot 100 landed there during the calendar year 1963. The follow-up to “Hey Paula,” “Young Lovers,” was their only other top 10 hit, reaching No. 6. They released three albums, in total, all over a compact eight-month period in 1963.

The duo, were partners only in music, not romance; Jackson was the niece of the man who ran the boarding house where Hildebrand lived as a college student. They went their separate ways in 1965, but sporadically released further singles as late as 1970, and occasionally re-teamed at oldies shows or special events into the 21st century.

Hildebrand went on to have a different kind of career in the seminal days of contemporary Christian music, recording an album titled “He’s Everything to Me” in 1967 and songs including “Say I Do” and “Anybody Here Wanna Live Forever?” In the ’80s, he formed a CCM duo called Land & Hildebrand with Paul Land, doing faith-based comedy as well as music.

Born in Joshua, Texas in 1940, Hildebrand was attending Howard Payne College when he met Jackson. They initially dubbed themselves Ray & Jill, sensibly enough. But the name change became inevitable after they recorded Hildebrand’s composition “Hey Paula” and it began to take off. He had been inspired to write it by a friend whose fiancee’s name was Paula.

“Hey Paula” spent the entire month of February 1963 at No. 1 on the Hot 100. They soon joined Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars tour.

Aside from their smash hit, the duo’s catalog has not been extensively mined. None of the three albums they recorded for Philips — “Paul & Paula Sing for Young Lovers,” “We”ll Go Together” and the very good Christmas album “Holiday for Teens” — has ever officially been issued on CD in the U.S.

In 2012, the two singers reunited to hold hands and sing their hit at their former college, now called Howard Payne University (see video, below).

In article <108b3586-b90c-412c-8c11-95628f10afe0n@googlegroups.com>,
That Derek <thatderek@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Aside from their smash hit, the duo’s catalog has not been extensively mined.
> None of the three albums they recorded for Philips — “Paul & Paula Sing for
> Young Lovers,” “We”ll Go Together” and the very good Christmas album “Holiday
> for Teens” — has ever officially been issued on CD in the U.S.

The Holiday for Teens playlist:

White Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock
Blue Christmas
Winter Wonderland
Silver Bells
Holiday Hootenanny
Holiday for Teens
Home for the Holidays
The Happy Holiday
I'll Be Home for Christmas
A New Year, a New Ring
The Christmas Song

In article <108b3586-b90c-412c-8c11-95628f10afe0n@googlegroups.com>,
That Derek <thatderek@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Aside from their smash hit, the duo’s catalog has not been extensively mined.
> None of the three albums they recorded for Philips — “Paul & Paula Sing for
> Young Lovers,” “We”ll Go Together” and the very good Christmas album “Holiday
> for Teens” — has ever officially been issued on CD in the U.S.

You'll find the album if you poke around in all the old familiar
places. It's indeed very good.

Jill Jackson aka "Paula", born Wednesday, May 20 1942--two days before the late Unabomber on Friday that week--is still alive at 81...and is now free to vocally team with someone else harmonically partnerless, alas, ever since 1980: Paul McCartney.

(Hey, after Tina Turner came to her senses and dumped abusive partner Ike, the late wife-beater would go on to (reported Rolling Stone) unsuccessfully attempt to stage a national concert tour with Teena Marie, of course to be billed as Ike & Teena. So why not?)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida