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Gary and Dave
Could You Ever Love Me Again / Where Do We Go from Here - 7"
Axe - 1973
Michael Panontin
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"There's a certain magic that happens and it never ceases to amaze me. Why is something just so right and why does it become so successful?"
Greg Hambleton could have been talking about any of the hits he racked up in the early seventies as producer. But of all the records that charted in that period - discs by the likes of Steel River, Thundermug, Rain and Major Hoople's Boarding House - none was as successful as Gary & Dave's 'Could You Ever Love Me Again'. That song definitely had that certain magic, becoming one of the few Canadian records ever to top the RPM100 singles chart.
Gary Weeks and Dave Beckett first met up in Grade 7 in a suburban Toronto school and later played together in a number of bands with names like Edgar and the Allan Poes, the Kingbees and the Diplomats. By 1966 while still teenagers, the guys, who were now calling themselves Gary & Dave, finished fourth among 500 contestants to win the rights to perform at Massey Hall at the United Appeal Concert. Then, in 1970, they were jetted off to Japan for a three-week stint at Expo '70 in Osaka, where RPM reported they were "backed by a 98-piece orchestra and were received extremely well by the Japanese audiences".
Enter Hambleton, who got to know the singing duo just prior to their Japanese adventure. The fledgling producer, who in his own words had "started at the bottom washing floors at Art Snider's Sound Canada Studios" was just starting to come into his own, especially after scoring a top-ten hit with Steel River's 'Ten Pound Note', which he issued on his own Tuesday label.
Hambleton formed the Axe label ostensibly to release his own productions rather than license them to other labels. Axe issued a couple of records by Gary & Dave, 'Can't You Do It Now' in May '72 and 'Here It Comes Again' in February the following year. Neither record bothered the charts much. But as the saying goes, the third time's the charm.
'Could You Ever Love Me Again' was recorded at Toronto Sound and released in early July '73. The record was, as they say in the industry, a slow burner. CHED in Edmonton was the first station to pick it up, as noted in the July 7th issued of RPM, and it entered the RPM100 chart fairly quickly, checking in at #98 the following week. But even with promotion director Elsie Hetherman pushing the single to radio stations, it was a long slow climb to that top spot for Gary & Dave.
Two months after its release, their record had just barely managed to crack the top-50, and a month after that - the week of Oct. 6 - it finally squeaked its way into the top-20. It still needed another six weeks to reach #1, but on the 17th of November Gary & Dave sat proudly atop the RPM charts. What's more, 'Could You Ever Love Me Again' was issued in a number of countries including Australia (where it hit #7), the US, the UK, New Zealand and Germany, where it was sheathed in a lovely picture sleeve (shown above).
Gary & Dave were nominated for five Juno awards in 1974 and even had their own television show on CBC. More singles charted. But the guys struggled to match the success of 'Could You Ever Love Me Again', and it soon all came to an end. Weeks chronicled his disappointment in his biography, also titled Could You Ever Love Me Again.
"I'll never forget the sense of rejection, the confusion, the despair that loomed over me as I walked the streets of Montreal, alone and penniless. Just a few months earlier, I had been wining and dining in New York City, attending Broadway shows, meeting movie stars like Al Pacino, and preparing to have my own television variety show that would earn a great deal of money and fame. Suddenly, without warning, it all came to a screeching halt. My little empire came crashing down and I felt like my life had been thrown on a scrap heap that nobody cared about."
Fortunately, along the way Weeks and Beckett had taken a keen interest in flying. Both became commercial pilots, though Weeks changed careers midway to work as a missionary in Ireland. Hambleton kept his feet on the ground, so to speak. These days he spends much of his time tending to the Axe back catalogue, remastering and releasing those songs for a new generation of listeners to enjoy.
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