Paul & Paula

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Paul & Paula (Ray Hildebrand, born December 21, 1940, and Jill Jackson, born May 20, 1942) were an American pop singing duo, best known for their 1963 million selling No. 1 hit record, "Hey Paula".

Hildebrand was born in Joshua, Texas, and Jackson in McCamey, Texas. Both were attending Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas in 1962 when a local disc jockey, Riney Jordan, asked listeners to come to the studio and sing their songs to help the American Cancer Society. The duo sang a song called "Hey Paula," which Hildebrand wrote, and were encouraged to make a record of it.

Shelby Singleton of Mercury Records eventually signed them, but not before changing their professional name (Singleton reasoned that a pair named Ray and Jill singing about "Hey, hey Paula" and "Hey, hey Paul" did not make sense). "Hey Paula" sold over two million copies globally, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) in 1963.

[1] The pairing of Paul & Paula was credited with inspiring other famous male/female pairings down the line, mostly from record companies that had originally turned the duo down in 1962. In November 1963 Nino Tempo & April Stevens and Dale and Grace had back-to-back Hot 100 #1s. Jerry Butler was quickly paired with Betty Everett, and Marvin Gaye was paired with a number of female partners before Motown finally settled on Tammi Terrell.

The duo released two regular albums and a Christmas-themed album after the success of "Hey Paula", which charted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the entire month of February 1963. Their follow-up, "Young Lovers", reached #6 on the Billboard chart later in the same year.

In 1965, Hildebrand left the act to complete his college education, having decided that a future in show business was not for him. He made this decision in the middle of a Dick Clark Caravan of Stars road trip, and Clark had to fill in at the last minute. Hildebrand recorded a Christian music album in 1967 called He's Everything to Me.

Jackson went on with a solo career and Hildebrand returned to singing in the 1980s in the Christian duo Land & Hildebrand. Today, the twosome get together from time to time to sing as Paul & Paula for special events.

In 2002, Hildebrand and Jackson returned to Howard Payne University to be the homecoming guests of honor and Grand Marshalls.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7vcRyBAQZA


"Hey Paula" is an American pop standard love song recorded by the singing duo Paul & Paula. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending February 9, 1963, and also made it to number one on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

"Paul" was the song's writer, Ray Hildebrand,  a student at Texas' Howard Payne University, a Baptist institution in the city of Brownwood. "Paula" was Jill Jackson, the niece of the owner of the boarding house where Ray lived.