In May of 1968, Billy Vera and Judy Clay, an interracial couple, sang their love song, “Storybook Children,” in the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. When Vera stepped on stage, the spotlight shone on him. The audience gasped in shock because no one knew that the male lead on “Storybook Children” was white.
America’s first interracial singing duo was performing five live shows a day, seven days a week. “It was groundbreaking,” says Vera, “America was just on the verge of being ready for an interracial duo singing love songs – but they weren’t quite there yet.”
Vera wrote the song “Storybook Children” with the songwriting legend, Chip Taylor. Taylor says the song was first inspired by seeing two children, a white boy, and a black girl, holding hands walking through an open field near New York City.
At that time, Taylor and Vera weren’t specifically looking for a black female singer. They held auditions for both black and white singers, but none of their voices blended well with Vera’s voice.
However, according to BBC News, “Vera says the pair’s influence was muted at the time. Music and television executives warned him the duo wouldn’t get much TV airtime because Southern stations might lose sponsors if they showed a white man singing with a black woman on local television, especially a love song. The pair did however appear on one TV show in Detroit and a live show in Pittsburgh in the autumn of 1967 and winter of 1968 – as the song continued to rise on the charts.”
Vera and Clay weren’t the first interracial duo to release a song together though. For example, “In 1952, R&B guitarist and singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe teamed up with white country artist Red Foley to record the Christian-themed Have a Little Talk with Jesus on Decca Records, according to Wald’s book.” Additionally, “Storybook Children” wasn’t as much of a success as some of their other songs because the world was shifting towards s new hippy influence and Vera and Clay were old-school soul type of musicians.
Link to Article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220627-the-uss-first-interracial-love-song
America’s first interracial singing duo was performing five live shows a day, seven days a week. “It was groundbreaking,” says Vera, “America was just on the verge of being ready for an interracial duo singing love songs – but they weren’t quite there yet.”
Vera wrote the song “Storybook Children” with the songwriting legend, Chip Taylor. Taylor says the song was first inspired by seeing two children, a white boy, and a black girl, holding hands walking through an open field near New York City.
At that time, Taylor and Vera weren’t specifically looking for a black female singer. They held auditions for both black and white singers, but none of their voices blended well with Vera’s voice.
However, according to BBC News, “Vera says the pair’s influence was muted at the time. Music and television executives warned him the duo wouldn’t get much TV airtime because Southern stations might lose sponsors if they showed a white man singing with a black woman on local television, especially a love song. The pair did however appear on one TV show in Detroit and a live show in Pittsburgh in the autumn of 1967 and winter of 1968 – as the song continued to rise on the charts.”
Vera and Clay weren’t the first interracial duo to release a song together though. For example, “In 1952, R&B guitarist and singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe teamed up with white country artist Red Foley to record the Christian-themed Have a Little Talk with Jesus on Decca Records, according to Wald’s book.” Additionally, “Storybook Children” wasn’t as much of a success as some of their other songs because the world was shifting towards s new hippy influence and Vera and Clay were old-school soul type of musicians.
Link to Article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220627-the-uss-first-interracial-love-song
