Chas Hodges: Biography

Chas Hodges was born Charles Nicholas Hodges, on 28 December, 1943) in North Middlesex Hospital, Edmonton, in north London. His mother was Daisy, his father a lorry driver from Hackney called Albert Hodges and he had an older brother – oddly enough called Dave. Chas is best known for being lead vocalist and piano-player in Chas & Dave.

Chas’s father, Albert, killed himself with a 12-bore shotgun the day before Chas’s fourth birthday. Daisy managed to feed the children by playing the piano in pubs and clubs all around North London. At the age of twelve, his mother encouraged Chas to learn the guitar.  In 1957,  barely a year later, Chas  joined his first band, who were called The Horseshoe skiffle group.

Chas’s first “proper” job was at a jeweller’s shop on Edmonton Green called Turner’s: he got the job because the boss drank at a pub where Chas’s mother played piano. But Chas was soon earning more money as a musician.

After the Horsehoes broke up, Chas was asked to join Billy Gray and the Stormers, who played regularly at the King’s Head in Edmonton. Chas played bass guitar: he was the only musician in Edmonton with a bass guitar and amp, which had belonged to Jet Harris, bassist with The Shadows.

Chas left the jeweller’s and, after a short stint working in a deckchair factory, became a professional musician with Mike Berry & The Outlaws, (with guitarist Richie Blackmore, who went on the play with Deep Purple), who recorded with legendary independent producer Joe Meek. The Outlaws split from Mike Berry and backed several musicians including Jerry Lee Lewis, Heinz and Gene Vincent, before Chas left to join Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers, which had Mick Burt (later to become the Chas and Dave drummer) on drums.

Meanwhile: in 1961 Chas met his future wife, Joan, at a gig in Edmonton, and they became engaged two years later. In 1965, out of 1,000 other girls, Joan was chosen to be the first of six original UK Playboy Bunny Girls and she was sent out to Chicago to learn the ropes in the Chicago Playboy Club. Joan came back to London in 1966 to audition and train British girls to open the UK’s first and only Playboy Club in London’s prestigious and very exclusive Park Lane. Whilst she worked at the Playboy Club, Frank Sinatra asked Joan to appear in his 1966 film The Naked Runner.

Joan and Chas married in the October of 1966 and they now have three children: Juliet, Kate (a singer/songwriter) and Nik who is a musician and a film and television soundtrack composer. Chas and Joan have a grandson called Harry and a granddaughter called Charlie.

In 1970 Chas’s friend and much admired British guitarist Albert Lee formed Heads, Hands & Feet  and Chas was asked to join them. He spent the next two years gigging and recording with HH&F. On a long tour of America, Chas began to experiment with writing his own songs and thought about the idea of playing and singing about his own area of the world – London – in his own accent, just as Americans have always been able to do. He said he felt a fraud singing in an American accent in the USA. His friend Dave Peacock shared these views and so Chas and Dave were born at the end of 1972.

Chas and Dave recorded their very first album in 1974, with Mick Burt, the drummer from Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, joining them very soon after. After a couple of well received albums they finally broke big in 1979 with  “Gertcha”, their first top 20 hit.

In 1980, Chas produced the single “Sunshine of your Smile” for  Mike Berry: it was a top 10 hit and became a live favourite with Chas and Dave. Mike and Chas then worked together on an album of the same name.

In 1983, at Eric Clapton’s wedding Chas was on stage playing some rock ’n’ roll on the piano and was joined by Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Ringo’s wife,  Maureen took pictures but was later told to keep them to herself. They have never seen the light of day.

Chas recently published his second book, Chas & Dave: All About Us  (John Blake Publishing), as well as a textbook on growing your own vegetables called Chas’s Rock’n’Roll Allotment. His first solo album appeared in April 2009. Aside from a cameo from his granddaughter on alto-sax, all the songs are written, performed and produced by Chas Hodges.

Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock reunited for the final Chas and Dave Tour, which took place in 2011.