Chas & Dave (often billed as Chas 'n' Dave) were a British pop rock duo, formed in London by Chas Hodges and Dave Peacock. Hodges died in 2018.
They were most notable as creators and performers of a musical style labelled rockney (a portmanteau of rock and cockney), which mixes "pub singalong, music-hall humour, boogie-woogie piano and pre-Beatles rock 'n' roll". For a time, Rockney was also the name of their record label, their major breakthrough being "Gertcha" in 1979, which peaked at No. 20 in the UK Singles Chart, and was the first of eight Top 40 hit singles the duo played on. They had their biggest success in the early 1980s with "Rabbit" and "Ain't No Pleasing You". They also had nine charting albums. In October 2013 they released That's What Happens, their first studio album in 18 years.
History
Formation
Charles Nicholas "Chas" Hodges and David Victor "Dave" Peacock met in 1963, but the duo only started writing songs together in 1972. In the 1960s and 1970s, Hodges and Peacock were in various groups. Hodges was with The Outlaws and then Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers in the 1960s, while Dave Peacock was with a group called the Rolling Stones (formed before the more famous one), and The Tumbleweeds, and worked with Mick Greenwood and Jerry Donahue. Hodges and Peacock were both part of Black Claw with Harvey Hinsley and Mick Burt, three of them (Hodges, Peacock and Burt) would later be in Chas & Dave. They recorded with Albert Lee, and released an EP called Country Pie. After Black Claw, Hodges joined Heads Hands & Feet in 1970. Both Hodges and Peacock had worked as session musicians and in backing bands for a wide range of artists; Hodges as part of The Outlaws had worked with Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Bill Haley, and also supported the Beatles as the Rebel Rousers. The hook of the song on which Hodges and Peacock played guitar and bass in 1975, Labi Siffre's "I Got The...", was later sampled on Eminem's "My Name Is".
Hodges toured America when he was with Heads Hands & Feet, and it was during the tour that he had the idea of performing in his natural accent as he thought it "not quite real" performing in an American accent to an American audience. After Heads Hands & Feet broke up, in November 1972, Hodges spoke to Peacock about forming a band together where they can sing in their own accent and about things they knew. This would be the beginning of Chas & Dave. They had initially considered a few names, including Chubby. The name Chas & Dave came about when they were doing sessions together, and a producer often referred to them as one and said, "Here comes Chas and Dave", and later suggested: "Why don't you just call yourselves Chas and Dave?" They also recorded as Oily Rags (cockney rhyming slang for cigarettes - "fags"), and released a self-titled album with Gerry Hogan and Ian Wallace in 1974, as well as an album with Oliver Nelson. The album Oily Rags was released by Signature Records owned by Bob Thiele, whose wife Teresa Brewer recorded the first ever song written by Hodges and Peacock together, "Better Get Your Shoes On".
The duo recorded their first album as Chas & Dave in 1974, and this album, One Fing 'n' Anuvver, was released in 1975 under the Retreat Records label. Burt joined the duo in 1976 as a drummer, and although they were in fact a trio since, the duo of Hodges and Peacock remained the main focus of the band. They were signed by EMI in 1977, and the album Rockney was recorded that year and released in 1978. A song from the album, "Strummin'", was their first song to reach the chart. In early 1979, a song from their first album "Woortcha!" was used for a television commercial for Courage Bitter, and this song was then re-recorded and released as a single, retitled "Gertcha", which reached No. 20 on the singles chart. They opened for Led Zeppelin at the 1979 Knebworth Festival on two consecutive Saturdays on 4 and 11 August.
1980s
Chas & Dave first signed a management deal in 1978 with Bob England, who with business partner Natasha England then formed the 'Rockney' label with the duo in 1980, part of the England's Towerbell Records company. The first single released under this label, "Rabbit" became their first top 10 hit single. The word "rabbit" comes from the Cockney rhyming slang rabbit and pork meaning talk. The song is about a relationship between a man and a woman, in which the man expresses his love for his girlfriend, but complains that she will not stop talking or, rabbiting. It was also used in a television commercial for Courage Bitter. On Christmas Day 1981 they appeared on The Two Ronnies Christmas Special.