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Prelude are an English based folk trio consisting of Brian Hume (vocals, guitar), his wife Irene Hume (vocals) and Ian Vardy (guitars, vocals), who formed in their native Gateshead in 1970.

They began to write their own material and built a following on the folk circuit and in 1973 they recorded their first album How Long Is Forever? on Dawn Records at Rockfield recording studios in Wales. From it came their best known recording, an a cappella version of the Neil Young song "After The Goldrush", on Pye. In the UK, it entered the top 50 on 26 January 1974, had a 9 week stay, peaking at Number 21. In America, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 11 February 1974 and had a five week stay, peaking at #22.

Brian Hume explained (in 1974) how the song came about: “We were standing at a bus stop in Stocksfield and we just started singing it. There was no particular reason, it was just a nice song. The way we do it now is really no different from the way we did it at the bus stop. We included it in our act and it went down really well – even the rowdier clubs listened to it. We certainly never thought of it as a possible single. In any case we always thought of ourselves as an album group rather than making singles and included the song on the album How Long Is Forever as an afterthought”.

The group subsequently toured the U.S., but "After the Goldrush" proved their only U.S. chart success. They then toured the UK supporting artists such as Ralph McTell and Joan Armatrading. In 1981 they toured the UK with Don McLean.

Vardy left the band in 1985. Irene and Brian continued as a duo until 1987, when they were joined by Jim Hornsby (guitar/dobro). By 1993, Hornsby had left and Prelude continued as a duo once more. They still write and perform on the folk circuit, along with Chris Ringer (bass/vocals).

Irene and Brian are now also a successful (in the UK) Country duo.

• "After the Goldrush" (Pye) peaked at No.21
• "Platinum Blonde" (EMI) - 1980 - peaked at No.45
• "After The Goldrush" (re-issue) (After Hours) - 1982 - peaked at No.28
• "Only The Lonely" (After Hours) 1982 - peaked at No.55

• How Long Is Forever? (Dawn 1973)
• Dutch Courage (Dawn 1975)
• Owl Creek Incident (Pye 1975)
• Back Into The Light (Pye 1976)
• Prelude (CMP 1984)
• Floating on the Breeze: The Dawn (2001)

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X

• Guinness Book of British Hit Albums - 7th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-619-7

• Official web site