Friend & Lover was an American

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

-singing duo composed of

husband A husband is a man involved in a marital relationship, commonly referred to as a spouse. The specific rights, responsibilities, and societal status attributed to a husband can vary significantly across different cultures and historical perio ...

-and-

wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...

team Jim and Cathy Post. The duo is best known for its

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

" Reach out of the Darkness", which reached number 10 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

in the summer of 1968.

Biographical information

Cathy Conn was born May 30, 1945, in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. She had a background in

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

before meeting her future husband Jim Post at a Canadian provincial fair in 1964. Their marriage and the band eventually broke up. Cathy remarried twice, became Cat Conn, had three children and five grandchildren, and lived for a short time in the mountains of

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. In 2015 or 2016, she moved back into Chicago to live out the rest of her days with two of her grandchildren and one of her first children. She died in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, on July 4, 2018, at 73.

Jim Post Jimmie David Post (October 28, 1939 – September 14, 2022) was an American folk singer-songwriter, composer, and playwright. In 1968, his pop song "Reach out of the Darkness" charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for 14 we ...

was born October 28, 1939, in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He had previously performed with a folk group, The Rum Runners. He went on to record

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album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s for

labels A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affixed to ...

such as

Flying Fish Records Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records. Bruce Kaplan, the label's founder, was a native of Chicago and the son of ...

and

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

. Post died in Dubuque, Iowa, after a long illness on September 14, 2022, at the age of 82.

Reach out of the Darkness

Jim, inspired by a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

love-in A love-in is a peaceful public gathering focused on meditation, love, music, sex and/or use of recreational drugs. The term was coined by Los Angeles radio comedian Peter Bergman, creator of comedy group The Firesign Theater, who also hosted the ...

, wrote the duo's only significant hit single, " Reach Out of the Darkness". The song was recorded in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, with

Ray Stevens Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country music, country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. He is best known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "M ...

and

Joe South Joe South (born Joseph Alfred Souter; February 28, 1940 – September 5, 2012) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Best known for his songwriting, South won the Grammy Award for Grammy Award for Song of the Year, ...

on the session, and released on the

Verve Forecast Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * '' The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee h ...

label (although the Verve Records Discography had a completely different account of the song and its flip "Time on Your Side (You're Only 15 Years Old)" being recorded on August 23, 1967, in New York City, but the location was updated some time later to Atlanta, Georgia, nevertheless still with the sides reversed). The song made the U.S. Top 10 chart in June 1968 and was adopted as a kind of anthem by the protest movement against American politics of the time. It was re-released as the title track of a follow-up album in 1969. The song appeared in the movie ''

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

'', '' Aquarius'': "A Change is Gonna Come" (season 1, episode 5), ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'': "The Time Has Come Today" (season 4, episode 25), and ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'': "Man With a Plan" (season 6, episode 7).

Discography

Albums

Track listing

#"Boston Is a Lovely Town" #"I'm a Woman, I'm a Man" #"Zig-Zag" #"Saturday's Hero" #"Room to Let (to Rowena with Love)" #" Reach out of the Darkness" #"A Wise Man Changes His Mind" #"Ode to a Dandelion" #"If Love Is in Your Heart" #"The Weddin' March (I Feel Groovy)" #"The Way We Were in the Beginning"

Singles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friend and Lover American folk musical groups American musical duos Verve Records artists Folk music duos Male–female musical duos Musical married couples Musical groups established in 1964 Musical groups disestablished in the 1970s 1964 establishments in Texas 1970s disestablishments in Texas