Chaz Jankel

Charles Jeremy Jankel was born on 16 April 1952 in Stanmore,[6] Middlesex. Inspired by Lonnie Donegan, he started to learn how to play the Spanish guitar at age 7, and then went on to study the piano.[7] 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.[7]

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.[8] 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.[9]

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.[10] 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.[9] 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.[11]

Jankel performing live with the Blockheads at The Water Rats, 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.[12] He went on to release the albums Chazablanca in 1983 and Looking at You in 1985.[9] 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.[13]

After both of Jankel's parents died, he moved to the US in 1988 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) on which later album he took lead vocals on the song "I Could Lie".[14] 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.[15]

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.[16]

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 additional song "Get Myself Together" [17]

Since 2001 Jankel had issued records on his own CJ Records label.[18][19]

Jankel moved to Venice, Los Angeles in September 1988. He lived with his Swedish girlfriend Catharina Hemberg. They were married on the island of Kauai. They had a son Tao born in Hollywood in 1990, who is currently working for Business Sweden.

Chaz and Catharina divorced, she moving back to Sweden and he moving back to the UK in 1992, where he met his future wife, the artist Elaine O'Halloran. They had met on the set of the film The Rachel Papers where she was assistant editor.[20] The couple have a son Lewis Shay Jankel (b. 1993), a DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter who uses the stage name Shift K3Y.[21]

Jankel's older brother Tony has been working with Jankel the car designers and manufacturers. His sister Annabel Jankel is a film and television director who, in 2018, directed the British film drama Tell It to the Bees; Jankel wrote a piano piece called "Unresolved" that features in the soundtrack.[22]

As of January 2019, Jankel remains active playing gigs around the UK, performing with the Blockheads and collaborating with Eos Counsell on piano and violin compositions.

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition – 1988

• Official website
• Chaz Jankel at AllMusic
• Chaz Jankel discography at Discogs
• Chaz Jankel at IMDb
• Chaz Jankel – Ai No Corrida on YouTube
• Chaz Jankel – Glad to Know You on YouTube