Another "under the radar" musician's passing? Gordon Waller, of Peter & Gordon, July 17th

[Amerigo Vespucci]

There might have been a DU thread on this, but I damn sure missed it. Just got the new Rolling Stone in the mail and this is the first I've heard of it.

"A World Without Love" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_lJPUKTchI

Gordon Waller, a Partner in the Band Peter and Gordon, Dies at 64
By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: July 21, 2009

Gordon Waller, who formed half of Peter and Gordon, a successful pop duo that followed the Beatles to America as part of the British Invasion of the 1960s and that scored a No. 1 hit with “A World Without Love,” died on Friday in Norwich, Conn. He was 64 and lived in Ledyard, Conn.v

His death was announced on the official Peter and Gordon Web site, peterandgordon.net. It gave the cause as cardiac arrest.

Mr. Waller and Peter Asher played acoustic guitars and brought vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Everly Brothers to their own synthesis of folk, blues and rock ’n’ roll. An important ingredient in their success was a steady supply of songs written by Paul McCartney that the Beatles themselves did not record.

By October 1963, Mr. McCartney was dating Mr. Asher’s sister, the actress Jane Asher, and Peter and Gordon had signed a record contract with EMI. They turned to Mr. McCartney to provide a song for them. Knowing he was writing “A World Without Love,” they asked him to finish it for them so they could record it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/arts/music/21waller.html