Charles Jeremy "Chaz" Jankel (born 16 April 1952) is an English musician and songwriter. In a music career spanning more than 50 years, he 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 of 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 ten 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 Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the List of highest points in London, highest point ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. Inspired by

skiffle Skiffle is a music genre, genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, Country music, country, Bluegrass music, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. ...

singer

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002) was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought ...

, he started to learn how to play the Spanish guitar at age 7, and then went on to study the piano. He attended the boarding school

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, Day school, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and became a fan of the American rock, funk and soul band

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

during his time there. Jankel's fondness for this style was later responsible for much of the

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

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 Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

he played with a rock band called

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

from 1972 to 1973.

Career

In 1973, Jankel contributed a track titled "Let's Go" to Long John Baldry's studio album '' Good to Be Alive''. He then joined the folk rock band Jonathan Kelly's Outside and played lead guitar on three tracks on their only studio album '' ...Waiting on You'', released in February 1974. Jankel first started working with

Ian Dury Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was an English singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame in the late 1970s, during the punk rock, punk and new wave music, new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Kilburn ...

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 studio albums such as 1977's '' New Boots and Panties!!'' and the Blockheads' albums including the 1979 release ''

Do It Yourself "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, wikt:modification, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals ...

'' before leaving the band. He wrote funk songs such as " Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick", and " Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". In 1981, Jankel joined Dury again, without the Blockheads, for his second solo studio album '' Lord Upminster'', which spawned the US Top 40 dance hit "

Spasticus Autisticus "Spasticus Autisticus" is a song written by Ian Dury and co-written by Chaz Jankel, released both as a single and on Dury's second solo studio album '' Lord Upminster'' (1981). History and ban by the BBC "Spasticus Autisticus" was written in 1 ...

", which he co-wrote. 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''. This album featured major lyrical contributions from Ian Dury, and musical contributions from two of the Blockheads, bassist 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 MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

music video of its title track. In 1981,

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

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. Chas Jankel at Water Rats

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 American science fiction comedy film ''

Real Genius ''Real Genius'' is a 1985 American science fiction comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft, and PJ Torokvei, and starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret. The film, set on the campus of Pacific Tech, a scie ...

'' (1985), starring

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...

. He went on to release the studio albums '' Chazablanca'' in 1983 and '' Looking at You'' in 1985. In 1985 Jerry Moss, the recording executive of A&M, rejected the release of his fifth studio album, and terminated his

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with the label. 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 studio 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". 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. Jankel has several composer credits for films, including '' D.O.A.'' (1988), starring Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, which was co-directed by his sister Annabel Jankel, and '' K2'' (1991), starring

Michael Biehn Michael Biehn ( or ; born July 31, 1956) is an American actor, primarily known for his roles in science fiction films directed by James Cameron; as Sgt. Kyle Reese in ''The Terminator'' (1984), Cpl. Dwayne Hicks in ''Aliens (film), Aliens'' (1 ...

. Jankel composed the majority of the music for the Dury biographical film '' Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'' (2010), in which he was portrayed by Tom Hughes. Jankel received a

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

nomination for the film's music. In 2010, Jankel released his first

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

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" Since 2001 Jankel had issued records on his own CJ Records label. Jankel recorded a single with Cherry Cameron in 2016.

Personal life

In September 1988 Jankel moved to

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

, where he lived with his Swedish girlfriend Catharina Hemberg. They were married on the island of

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Jankel and Hemberg have a son, Tao Hemberg Jankel, born in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

in 1990. Tao lives and works in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway and is a successful DJ; when he was very young, his parents divorced and his mother moved back to Sweden. In 1992 Jankel moved back to the UK, where he met artist Elaine O'Halloran, on the set of the comedy drama film '' The Rachel Papers'' (1989), where she was assistant editor. The couple married and have a son, Lewis Shay Jankel, born in 1993, who is a DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter, using the stage name Shift K3y. He went on to have hits with his 2014 singles "

Touch The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bo ...

", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and " I Know". 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" which features in the soundtrack.

Discography

Solo albums

Singles

References

External links

Official website
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jankel, Chaz 1952 births 20th-century English singers 21st-century English singers 20th-century English guitarists 21st-century English guitarists 20th-century multi-instrumentalists 21st-century multi-instrumentalists A&M Records artists Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Jewish English musicians English film score composers English male film score composers English rock guitarists English male guitarists English rock keyboardists English multi-instrumentalists English new wave musicians English rock pianists English record producers English male songwriters English tenors English lead guitarists Living people Musicians from the London Borough of Harrow People educated at Mill Hill School People from Stanmore Polydor Records artists Singers from the London Borough of Harrow Stiff Records artists The Blockheads members English male pianists 21st-century English pianists 20th-century English male singers 21st-century English male singers Varèse Sarabande Records artists