Chuck Mosley

Chuck Mosley
Mosley in 2016
Background information
Birth name	Charles Henry Mosley III[1]
Born	(1959-12-26) December 26, 1959 Hollywood, California, United States
Genres	Funk metal, alternative metal, alternative rock, hardcore punk
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1979–present
Labels	Dutch East India Trading, Rough Trade, Slash, Reversed Image Unlimited
Associated acts	Bad Brains, Cement, Faith No More, VUA, Indoria

Charles Henry "Chuck" Mosley III (born December 26, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter. Mosley was the front-man of the band Faith No More for their first two albums, We Care a Lot and Introduce Yourself.

Biography

Early life

Mosley was born in Hollywood, California, but raised in South Central Los Angeles and Venice. He was adopted at a very early age, as talked about in the Faith No More biography book, "The Real Story." In a 2013 interview, Mosley said "[My Parents] met at some kind of socialist/communist get-together in the '50s. They were interracial - my mom was Jewish and my dad was black and Native American. So that was something controversial in itself. My dad had a daughter and my mom had two daughters, and all they were missing was a boy, so they went out and adopted one, and it was me."^[2]

Faith No More years

Mosley first met Billy Gould in 1977, going to a The Zeros, Johnny Navotnee and Bags show. He then went on to play keyboards in Billy's first band, The Animated, in 1979.

In 1984 he joined Haircuts That Kill, a post-punk band from the San Francisco area, which lasted up until Mosley's joining of Faith No More.

He joined Faith No More in 1985 replacing Courtney Love (Hole) who had a brief stint as lead singer. Mosley recorded two albums with FNM, but parted ways with the band in 1988 for a number of reasons, including creative differences with other members, and rumors of substance abuse. His departure made quite a stir, when he sued the band for publishing rights, in an attempt to clear his name of the accusations of substance abuse.

Post-Faith No More

In 1990 Mosley began a stint as lead singer in revered hardcore punk band Bad Brains. He performed at nearly sixty shows in the United States and Europe before leaving the band in January 1992.

Mosley immediately went on to form a new funk metal band, Cement. They released two albums: Cement and Man with the Action Hair. Both albums were distributed by Dutch East India Trading (United States) and Rough Trade (Europe). The band toured both locations promoting their music. During the first week of what was to be a year-long tour for Man with the Action Hair, the band's driver fell asleep at the wheel causing a major accident. Mosley spent a year recovering from a broken back, the tour was canceled, and the band was subsequently shelved.

Mosley relocated to Cleveland, Ohio in March 1996, where he spent several years writing and compiling new material while raising his two daughters, and working as a chef in various restaurants.

Mosley's rock/rap singing style has been cited as an influence by nu metal groups such as Korn, Disturbed, and Limp Bizkit. He was featured in Billboard Magazine in spite of the fact that he has not released a record in several years. He then announced the album title ("Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food") and that it would be released under the name of "V.U.A. (Vanduls Ugainst Alliteracy)". The band name was later extended to include Chuck's name.

The original recording of Faith No More's "We Care a Lot", which he wrote and performed the lyrics for, has been featured as the theme song for the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs as well as in the major motion pictures Grosse Pointe Blank and Bio-Dome, and it has also been used in Major League Baseball games to introduce relief pitchers due to the refrain, "it's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it."

He retains an extremely loyal "cult" following amongst fans, both in the United States and overseas .

Chuck's LP Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food was released on August 11, 2009^[3] by Reversed Image Unlimited. Guest appearances on the LP include Jonathan Davis (Korn),^[3] John 5 (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie), Michael Cartellone (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Roddy Bottum (of Faith No More and Imperial Teen), and Reversed Image label mate Leah Lou.

On April 14, 2010, Mosley made a surprise appearance on stage at a Faith No More concert in San Francisco, the first time since 1988 that he has performed with the band. Chuck performed the songs "As the Worm Turns", "Death March", "We Care A Lot", and "Mark Bowen" on his own with the band, and was joined by Mike Patton during the final encore to perform a duet on "Introduce Yourself".

On November 17, 2012, Mosley re-released his album, Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food, and is working on an autobiography.

In late 2014 he revealed he was broke and that he and his family were on the verge of getting evicted from their home. He said: "The shocking truth is, that I'm not rich. We struggle every day, just like most everybody, more, right now, worse than ever, in a long time. I'm ashamed for being in this condition. Our band, VUA, has had to put off trying to tour or play any shows. We're starting to record new stuff, but even that is suffering at the hands of my family's financial situation."^[4]

In May, 2015 he again made another surprise appearance at a Faith No More concert, performing the track "Mark Bowen" at their Detroit show.^[5]

The summer of 2016 saw Mosley touring the U.S. doing an "unplugged" show,^[6] and a reissue of the We Care a Lot album, with extra tracks.^[7] At a performance on July 20 that same year, Bottum joined Mosley on stage for a rendition of an Imperial Teen tune.^[8]

Discography

Faith No More

• We Care a Lot (1985)
• Introduce Yourself (1987)

Cement

• Cement (1993)
• The Man with the Action Hair (1994)

Solo

• Will Rap Over Hard Rock for Food (2009)
• demosforsale (2013)

Guest Appearances

• Indoria - What I Feel (guest vocals) (2014)
• Indoria - You'll Never Make The Six (vocals & guitar) (2016)

References

External links

• Official website
• Mosley at Bandcamp
• Chuck Mosley on Myspace
• Chuck Mosley Interview on Songfacts site