Chas Hodges obituary

Rockney was the name given to the fusion of vintage rock’n’roll music and cockney lyrics pioneered by Chas and Dave from the 1970s onwards. The singer and pianist Chas Hodges, who has died aged 74 after suffering from oesophageal cancer, and bass guitarist Dave Peacock scored hit records such as Rabbit, Gertcha and Ain’t No Pleasing You, as well as composing songs to celebrate Tottenham Hotspur’s cup successes.

Their big break came from a series of television commercials for Courage beer in the late 70s and early 80s, which used eight of their songs as soundtracks. The duo also became favourites of many television producers. They were given their own Christmas special in 1982, with guests including Eric Clapton, which was extended to an ITV series, Chas and Dave’s Knees-Up, the following year, and they often appeared on the children’s Saturday morning show Tiswas.

Chas had spent years playing bass guitar in traditional rock’n’roll bands before his decision to switch to the piano and to “rockney”. As he wrote in his 2008 autobiography, All About Us: “I felt like a fraud singing in an American accent over there [on a 1972 US tour with the band Head, Hands and Feet]. My ambition now was to write and sing a serious song in my own accent – for want of a better description, cockney.”

He switched instruments and teamed up with Dave, whom he had met in 1960 through a fellow musician and schoolmate, and who shared his musical tastes. They started with low-key shows on the Truman brewery pub circuit in and around London, sometimes playing on the same bill as Chas’s mother, Daisy, a skilled pianist.

At first Chas found it quite difficult to adopt a cockney singing style, but he solved the problem by reciting his new lyrics out loud and then, “I put the natural spoken phrasing with a melody. Eureka!”

Born in Edmonton, north London, Chas was the second son of Albert, a lorry driver, and Daisy (nee Shaw). Albert took his own life when Chas was four, and Daisy found work playing the piano in pubs. Chas attended Eldon Road primary school and, after passing the 11-plus, Higher Grade grammar school in Edmonton. At 13, he was inspired to learn the guitar after hearing early rock’n’roll records by Little Richard and others. He joined the Horseshoe skiffle group, which evolved into the Horseshoes, a rock’n’roll band playing in local pubs and youth clubs.

Expelled from school at 15, he was briefly apprenticed to a watch and clockmaker, but was dismissed for lateness. By this time, Chas was a semi-professional musician, and had bought one of Britain’s first electric bass guitars as a member of Billy Gray and the Stormers, with whom he played the 1960 summer season at Butlins holiday camp in Filey, North Yorkshire.

He made his first recordings in the early 60s with his next group, the Outlaws, supporting the singer (and later actor) Mike Berry, who was a protege of the record producer Joe Meek. Meek used the Outlaws as a house band, and Chas played on the John Leyton hits Johnny Remember Me and Wild Wind (both 1961).

With changing personnel including the future Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, the Outlaws were in demand to accompany the visiting American stars Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent, and they split from Berry. Chas became friends with Lewis, who inspired him to play the piano.

In 1965, Chas joined Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, a rock and soul band managed by the Beatles’ mentor, Brian Epstein. The following year the Bennett band toured Germany with the Beatles, and Chas heard a pre-release version of their Revolver album, discussing its merits with Paul McCartney. Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers subsequently had a hit record with Got to Get You Into My Life, a track from Revolver, produced by McCartney.

The Rebel Rousers later left Bennett, but failed to make an impact without him. Chas played on various recording sessions before joining Head, Hands and Feet, then hooked up with Dave, billing themselves as Chas and Dave from 1972.

The duo’s first album, One Fing ’n’ Anuvver (1975), soon received airplay on music historian Charlie Gillett’s show on BBC Radio London. A national tour supporting 10cc followed, but the biggest boost to the duo’s career came from the Courage ads. Among the eight songs used as soundtracks were the top 20 hit singles Gertcha (1979), Rabbit (1980) and Ain’t No Pleasing You, an uncharacteristic slow ballad that became their biggest hit, reaching No 2 in 1982, as well as Margate the same year and The Sideboard Song (1979).

As ardent fans of Spurs, Chas and Dave were well placed to write and produce several hit singles performed by the Tottenham Hotspur FA Cup squads. The most successful of these was Ossie’s Dream (in tribute to the player and coach Ossie Ardiles), a No 5 hit in 1981, and Hotshot Tottenham, which reached no 19 in 1987. There was also a collaboration with Barry Hearn’s stable of snooker stars, credited as the Matchroom Mob, on Snooker Loopy, a No 6 hit in 1986.

The duo recorded a stream of albums, including Don’t Give a Monkey’s… (1979) and Well Pleased (1984). However it was the sing- along collections that amassed the biggest sales, with Chas and Dave’s Street Party: 50 Classic Songs Which Helped Win the War reaching No 3 in 1995. They had a renaissance in recent years, playing the Glastonbury festival in 2005 and 2007.

In 2009 Dave’s wife died, after which he became less active. They reunited in 2013 for two final albums, That’s What Happens and A Little Bit of Us, which returned them to their roots, and in 2014 Chas released a solo album, Together We Made Music.

In recent years, Chas became an enthusiastic gardener and contributed a column, Rock ’n’ Roll Allotment, to the Daily Express.

He is survived by his wife, Joan, a model and former Playboy “bunny”, whom he married in 1966, his children, Juliet, Kate and Nicholas, and two grandchildren.

• Chas (Charles Nicholas) Hodges, singer, songwriter and pianist, born 28 December 1943; died 22 September 2018