Raes

The Raes
Cherrill & Robbie Rae

    Husband and wife team, Cherrill and Robbie Rae first met in England. The Wales born Robbie had a minor hit with "The Lord's Prayer" sung in Welsh, the BBC deemed it blasphemous and banned it. Cherrill Yates was a member of the "Comic Soap Opera" in England. She had migrated there from her St. Thomas, Ontario home after finishing school.
     After marrying and moving to Canada the duo decided to pool their talents and form a singing group. Their first release was a 1977 remake of the Doris Day classic "Que Sera Sera." Their disco-tized version was NOT a hit. But the two persevered and recorded an entire album, "Winning Combination" in 1978.
     During the 1970's The Raes were nominated for two Juno Awards and became hosts of CTV's popular "Circus" show. They were offered a 5-year TV contract of their own -- which they turned down because their record company felt it would hurt their careers as pop stars.
     They recorded their second album in 1979. "Dancing Up A Storm" was picked up by A&M here in the United States and a remixed 12" single of "A Little Lovin" (Keeps The Doctor Away)" was issued. The catchy, bubbly song shot up the charts immediately. It landed at #-5 on the Club Play list but only peaked at #-61 on the Pop List. Most songs that hit high on the club charts in 1979 did equally as well on the pop charts. This anomaly was due to a typographical error in Billboard magazine. It showed the record sliding down the charts after a promising start and A&M pulled all promotion efforts on the record. Despite the lack of promotion a second 12" single, "I Only Wanna Get Up And Dance," was issued. Interest from the label had waned and it crawled up to #-47 on the Club Play lists before disappearing.
     The duo remained as popular as ever in Canada and continued on to record a third album in 1980. "Two Hearts" was not picked up for release here in the states and failed to achieve the success of their previous effort.
     With their recording careers in decline the duo suffered personal upheaval during this period and divorce followed in the early 1980's.
     Cherrill went on to remarry musician Nick Cucunato. Together they would have several groups including: "Backstreet," "Rae And Rockit" and a lounge act, "The Cherrill Rae Trio" but success was never the same.
     Robbie decided to pursue a solo career and released several singles on Quality Records with varying degrees of success. In 1989 he teamed up with Jim Gilmour and Steve Negus under the pseudonym Robert Bevan. They released one album for Virgin Records and quickly disbanded.
     Next came "The Robbie Rae Band" which toured the Toronto club circuit as a classic rock outfit. In the 1990's he became popular in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, while performing for American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia. In 1999 he moved to Thailand and formed another band which performs in Patong. As of today he still lives in Thailand were he has become an entrepreneur, opening his own nightclub.
     Cherrill's incredible voice will forever live in my mind as I think back to the summer of 1979. For the infectious strains of "A Little Lovin'" The Raes have earned their place in The DiscoMuseum and we're happy that they are alive and well!