Biography
Although their recordings drew less attention than their landmark status, Billy Vera and Judy Clay earned recognition as the first interracial duo in soul music and quite possibly the first such pair in any genre during the late 1960s.
A New York-based songwriter, Vera had already placed minor compositions such as Ricky Nelson’s “Mean Old World” and Barbara Lewis’s “Make Me Belong to You” before offering “Storybook Children” to Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler.
His plan to cut the track with Nona Hendryx, then a member of Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, collapsed, prompting him instead to join forces with Clay.
Born Judy Lee, she had entered the Drinkard Singers, a gospel ensemble that also included Cissy Houston, in the late 1950s and issued a string of soul singles throughout the following decade that met with limited notice.
Some heard “Storybook Children” as an allegory of interracial romance, yet Vera maintained it addressed adultery; in any case the single registered modest R&B and pop success in early 1968, as did its successor, “Country Girl-City Man (Just Across the Line).”
Much of the pair’s material, co-written by Vera and noted producer/songwriter Chip Taylor, featured Clay’s clearly stronger voice over reliable though undistinguished easygoing soul marked by pronounced pop and, at moments, middle-of-the-road touches.
After no further singles charted, the duo completed the 1968 album Storybook Children and then separated.
Clay continued recording for Stax and Atlantic in the late 1960s, reaching the R&B charts as William Bell’s duet partner on “Private Number” in 1968 and securing her lone R&B chart entry, “Greatest Love,” in 1970.
Vera subsequently assembled the Beaters in Los Angeles, topping the charts in 1986 with “At This Moment,” and continues today as an R&B historian, liner-note author, reissue compiler, and member of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
A New York-based songwriter, Vera had already placed minor compositions such as Ricky Nelson’s “Mean Old World” and Barbara Lewis’s “Make Me Belong to You” before offering “Storybook Children” to Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler.
His plan to cut the track with Nona Hendryx, then a member of Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, collapsed, prompting him instead to join forces with Clay.
Born Judy Lee, she had entered the Drinkard Singers, a gospel ensemble that also included Cissy Houston, in the late 1950s and issued a string of soul singles throughout the following decade that met with limited notice.
Some heard “Storybook Children” as an allegory of interracial romance, yet Vera maintained it addressed adultery; in any case the single registered modest R&B and pop success in early 1968, as did its successor, “Country Girl-City Man (Just Across the Line).”
Much of the pair’s material, co-written by Vera and noted producer/songwriter Chip Taylor, featured Clay’s clearly stronger voice over reliable though undistinguished easygoing soul marked by pronounced pop and, at moments, middle-of-the-road touches.
After no further singles charted, the duo completed the 1968 album Storybook Children and then separated.
Clay continued recording for Stax and Atlantic in the late 1960s, reaching the R&B charts as William Bell’s duet partner on “Private Number” in 1968 and securing her lone R&B chart entry, “Greatest Love,” in 1970.
Vera subsequently assembled the Beaters in Los Angeles, topping the charts in 1986 with “At This Moment,” and continues today as an R&B historian, liner-note author, reissue compiler, and member of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
Albums