Chaz Jankel

Chaz Jankel

Jankel smiling to the camera

Jankel before a gig with The Blockheads at Band on the Wall, in 2016
Background information
Birth name Charles Jeremy Jankel
Also known as Chas Jankel
Born (1954-11-10) 10 November 1954
Stanmore, Middlesex, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • arranger
  • composer
  • multi-instrumentalist
  • record producer
  • music programmer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • piano
  • organ
  • synthesizer
  • keyboards
  • percussion
Years active 1971–present
Labels

[2]

Associated acts
Website chazjankel.com
Notable instruments
Music sample
"Clevor Trevor" from New Boots and Panties!! (1977)

Charles Jeremy "Chaz" Jankel[3] (born 10 November 1954)[4][5] is an English singer, songwriter, arranger, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer.

In a music career spanning more than 40 years, Jankel came to prominence in the late 1970s as the guitarist, and keyboardist of the rock band Ian Dury and The Blockheads. With Dury, Jankel co-wrote some the band's best-known songs including "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll", "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick", and "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3".

In addition to his work with the Blockheads, Jankel has had a solo career which has resulted in nine studio albums. He has a long list of credits as both a performer and as songwriter.

Early life

Charles Jeremy Jankel was born on 16 April 1952, in Stanmore,[5] Middlesex, England to a Jewish family.[4] Inspired by Lonnie Donegan, he started to learn how to play the Spanish guitar at the age of 7, and then went on to study the piano.[6] He attended the boarding school Mill Hill School, and became a fan of the American rock, funk, and soul band Sly and the Family Stone during his time there. Jankel's fondness for this style was later responsible for much of the funk influence on the Blockheads' music, and also influenced Jankel's solo career. As a student at the art college Saint Martin's School of Art he played with a folk rock band called Byzantium from 1972 to 1973.[6]

Career

In 1973, Chaz Jankel contributed a track titled "Let's Go" to Long John Baldry's album Good to Be Alive. He then joined the folk rock band Jonathan Kelly's Outside, and worked on their only album ...Waiting on You, released in early 1974.[7] Jankel first started working with Ian Dury as part of the pub rock band Kilburn and the High Roads in the early part of the 1970s. He went on to work with Dury on albums such as 1977's New Boots and Panties!!, and the Blockheads' albums including the 1979 release Do It Yourself before leaving the band. In 1981, Jankel joined Dury again, without the Blockheads, for his second solo album Lord Upminster, which spawned the US Top 40 dance hit "Spasticus Autisticus", which he co-wrote.[8]

After leaving the Blockheads, Jankel pursued a solo career, and issued four studio albums for A&M, including his 1980 self-titled debut, and 1981's Chasanova, which was also released under the title Questionnaire.[9] This album featured major lyrical contributions from Ian Dury, and musical contributions from two of the Blockheads, bass player Norman Watt-Roy, and drummer Charlie Charles, and also contained the US dance hit "Glad to Know You", which was one of the tracks with lyrics written by Dury, plus the MTV music video of its title track.[8] In 1981, Quincy Jones had a UK chart hit with a cover version of Jankel's "Ai No Corrida", which reached No. 14 in April of that year. The song was also covered by the Nylons, and Laura More with Uniting Nations. In 2005, the Uniting Nations' version peaked at No. 18 in the UK.[10]

Jankel performing live with the Blockheads at The Water Rats, in 2011

Jankel hit No. 1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1982 with the triple A-side "Glad to Know You"/"3,000,000 Synths"/"Ai No Corrida". His single "Number One" went to No. 1 in the clubs in France and was used in the 1985 film Real Genius.[11] He went on to release the albums Chazablanca in 1983, and Looking at You in 1985.[8] In 1985 Jerry Moss, the recording executive of A&M, rejected the release of his fifth album, and terminated his recording career with the label.[12]

After both of Jankel's parents died, he moved to the US in 1986, and lived there for several years before returning to the UK to rejoin the Blockheads, working with Dury on their final two albums with him: Mr. Love Pants (1998), and Ten More Turnips from the Tip (2000).[13] After Dury's death in 2000, Jankel continued to write and perform with the Blockheads, with Dury's former friend and minder Derek Hussey being Dury's replacement.[14]

Jankel has several composer credits for films, including DOA (1988), which was co-directed by his sister Annabel Jankel, and K2. Jankel composed the majority of the music for the Dury biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, in which he was portrayed by Tom Hughes. Jankel received a BAFTA nomination for the film's music.[15]

In 2010, Jankel released his first compilation album titled My Occupation – The Music of Chaz Jankel which included the songs "Ai No Corrida", "Glad to Know You", and "You're My Occupation". This album also contained the song "Get Myself Together" which was a lost B-side.[16]

Since 2001 Jankel had issued records on his own CJ Records label.[17][18]

Personal life

Jankel met his wife Elaine O'Halloran on the set of the 1989 film The Rachel Papers where she was assistant editor.[19] The couple has a son Lewis Shay Jankel (b. 1993), a DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who uses the stage name Shift K3Y.[20] Jankel's sister Annabel Jankel is a film and TV director.[21]

Discography

Solo albums

Year Title Label
1980 Chas Jankel A&M
1981 Chasanova
1983 Chazablanca
1985 Looking at You
2001 Out of the Blue CJ
2003 Zoom
2005 Experience
2008 A Bit on the Side
2010 The Submarine Has Surfaced

Singles

Year Title B-side Album
1974 "One Morning One Evening" "Let's Work It Together" non-album single
1980 "Ai No Corrida" "Lenta Latina" Chas Jankel
1981 "Am I Honest With Myself Really?" [Promo-only] "Lenta Latina" Chas Jankel
1981 "109" "3,000,000 Synths" Chasanova
1981 "Questionnaire" "Boy" Chasanova
1981 "Glad to Know You" "3,000,000 Synths"/"Ai No Corrida" Chasanova
1982 "Without You" "To Wou Lady Kong"/"Rêve De Chèvre" Chazablanca
1983 "I Can Get Over It (If You Can Get Over Here)" "To Wou Lady Kong" Chazablanca
1985 "No. 1" "Tonight's the Night"/"Ai No Corrida (New York '85 Mix)" Looking at You
1985 "Looking at You" "Little Eva" Looking at You
1986 "You're My Occupation" (featuring Brenda Jones) "You're My Occupation (Dub Mix)" non-album single
1988 "Nicaragua" "Manon Manon" non-album single
2009 "I Come Alive" (featuring Natalia Scott) "Give It Up (Yam Who? Remix)"/"Give It Up (Original Version)" non-album single

References

  1. "Chris Jankel". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  2. "Chas Jankel". discogs.com.
  3. "Works written by: JANKEL CHARLES JEREMY". ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  4. 1 2 Rachel, Daniel (7 October 2014). The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters. St. Martin's Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-1-4668-6521-1. Charles Jeremy Jankel was born into a middle-class Jewish family on 16 April 1952.
  5. 1 2 "Chaz Jankel". theblockheads.com.
  6. 1 2 "Chaz Jankel". DJhistory.com. 2002. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  7. "Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Prato, Greg. "Chaz Jankel". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  9. "Chas Jankel - Questionnaire". Discogs. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  10. "Ai no corrida by Quncy Jones". Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. Burns, Todd L. (4 July 2008). "Sooner or later: Chaz Jankel". residentadvisor.net. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  12. "Bio | Chaz Jankel". www.chazjankel.com. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  13. "Ian Dury And The Blockheads 1977-2000". Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  14. "Derek The Draw". anduryauthor.wordpress.com. Retrieved 30 March 2013.
  15. "Film Award winners in 2010". Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  16. Chaz Jankel: My Occupation - The Music Of Chaz Jankel, retrieved 24 August 2016
  17. "Cj Records - Kudos Records". kudosrecords.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  18. "Chas Jankel - More Than Just Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll". ascap.com. 11 March 2010. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  19. "Films". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  20. "Biography". Billboard. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  21. "Chaz Jankel bio". Chaz Jankel.

Further reading

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