When we met Chad, he was living in Los Angeles working for Howard, mixing music. He'd created a song that had hit #1, and was looking for some credit on it's creation. Howard refused, and Chad hit him, knocking him down. He lost his job, and in a discussion with Henry, a social worker who had handled Chad's case for a long time, and we learned that when he was eight, he had run away from home, only to come back and find that his family had already left. All he had left was a yellow shoebox that he had been clutching when social services had come from them. Henry brought him the shoebox, and he found an article with the word 'Harmony' circled. He immediately hopped a bus to Harmony. Once there, he learned that he was actually adopted as an infant, and that an elderly man named Orville Perkins remembered a huge scandal in Harmony years ago involving the Harris family. He says Chad's family took him to L.A., but he still has family members here in town. Orville did establish that this was the same Chad Harris that was born in Harmony all those years ago, but before Chad could learn anything more, Orville was hit by a car. After that, he was pretty much a wash. Chad was born in Harmony in 1980, but after being adopted by the Harris family, soon moved to L.A. At age 8, he ran away from home for a few days, and returned home to find out that his family had mysteriously abandoned their home. He spent a few year roaming around foster care, and by 18, his only friend in the world was an older gentleman named Henry. He was working for a music producer, but when he learned that he hadn't received credit on the songs he had worked on, he was furious and assaulted the producer. He got himself fired, and after finding an article about Harmony in an old yellow shoebox, decided to head across the country to Maine to see what he could find out about the clipping. He soon learned that he was adopted, and that he had been born in Harmony.

Chad met an old man named Orville, who seemed to have information on his past. Orville also had Chad's birth certificate in his possession, which he almost completely burned before Chad was able to get ahold of it (even when Chad DID get it, the names had been scratched out). Chad's hot lead fizzled and died when it turned out Orville had nothing to tell him. Later, Chad encountered a lounge singer named Crystal Harris, who thought he might be a child that a friend had asked to christen with her father's name (Chad Harris), but before Crystal was able to tell him anything about his past, she was gunned down with a bullet meant for Sheridan.

Chad's closest friends in Harmony include Simone and Whitney Russell, Ethan Winthrop, and Theresa Lopez Fitzgerald. His relationship with the Russell girls is complicated. He is interested in Whitney, but knows Simone is interested in him, and to a large extent leads her on. He has been trying to get something started with Whitney for a long time, but his unwillingness to be honest with her, and her own intuition that says he's only in for a good time, have kept her from giving him the time of day. It doesn't help that their mother, Eve Russell, strongly disapproves of him. She looks upon him as a reminder of her own bad past (which she has kept safely hidden), and doesn't want her daughter's involved with a high-school drop-out from the streets. Chad and Ethan became friends when Chad began working on the music for Ethan and Gwen's wedding, but lately Chad has been abusing that friendship by manipulating Ethan to be with Theresa, no matter how much Ethan says he loves Gwen. He sees Theresa as a kindred spirit -- a girl who isn't afraid to love, or fight for that love. He has no idea the lies Theresa has told to further her cause -- he is very much against the type of manipulations she's used, and has expressed that opinion repeatedly.

Chad's life has gotten a lot more complicated since he saved Whitney's life in a construction accident shortly before the prom. Saving her life again during the prom disaster only re-opened the wound, and because he refused to go to the hospital or the free clinic (he didn't want charity), he ended up staying at the Russell house after collapsing on the docks. He was finally going to tell Whitney that he was interested in her, but made the mistake of telling Simone that he loved her (thinking she was Whitney). He was going to correct the mistake, but Kay told him that Simone had an eating disorder to keep him from breaking her heart. Now he might have blown every chance with Whitney -- he manipulated a situation that resulted in Ethan telling Theresa once and for all that he was not in love with her, and Theresa was in a near-fatal motorcycle (sabotaged by Timmy) crash because she was so emotional she wasn't paying attention to the road.

Chad and Whitney have finally managed to get together, and become a couple, but there's a road block in their way. He has never told Simone he loves her, and continues to allow her to hope for a future with him. With his silence, he is leading her on...and breaking her heart. Right now, Chad has become the latest in a long line of people to sacrifice his beliefs to lie for Theresa and keep everyone from finding out the truth about her scheming.