Chas Hodges
London voice and pianist BORN 1943
The unpretentious, genial voice of Chas & Dave, the group he formed with bassist Dave Peacock in 1972, Chas Hodges had a rich and varied musical life. Raised in Edmonton, he was a guitar-playing skiffler until he saw Jerry Lee Lewis at the Edmonton Regal and became increasingly fascinated with the piano. Moving into producer Joe Meek’s orbit in the late ’50s, Hodges joined Mike Berry’s backing band The Outlaws as bassist, playing alongside a young Ritchie Blackmore and on Meek sessions including John Leyton’s 1961 Number 1, Johnny Remember Me. In 1963 Hodges toured as Jerry Lee Lewis’s bassist, the same year The Outlaws backed Gene Vincent. Later he joined Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers after meeting them at the Star-Club in Hamburg, and supported The Beatles on their last UK tour. In 1970 he was invited by Albert Lee to join country rock group Heads Hands & Feet, who backed Jerry Lee on his 1973 album The Session. It was during a US tour that Hodges took the decision to sing in his own accent. In late 1972 he joined with old bandmate Peacock and Chas & Dave were on their way. They released their first album (as Oily Rags) in 1974, and, with ex-Rebel Rouser Mick Burt on drums from 1976, broke through with 1979’s Don’t Give A Monkeys…, whose 45 Gertcha reached Number 20. It was many listeners’ first encounter with their pub/music hall/rock’n’roll ‘Rockney’ sound, but it wouldn’t be their last, as hits including Rabbit, 1982 Number 2 Ain’t No Pleasin’ You and 1986’s Snooker Loopy, plus three Top 10 love songs to Tottenham Hotspur, proved. In the following decades Chas & Dave became a familiar, characterful, family-friendly part of the national fabric, playing Glastonbury in 2005, selling out the Albert Hall and appearing at the 2015 VE Day Celebrations. Hodges’ other credits included playing alongside Phil Lynott, Roy Wood and John Coghlan in The Rockers, writing his Rock’n’Roll Allotment gardening column for the Sunday Express and, he recalled, doing some rocking oldies at Eric Clapton’s 1983 wedding with fellow guests McCartney, Harrison and Starkey. He also recorded two solo albums. He had been suffering from cancer, and succumbed to pneumonia.