Chaz Jankel came to prominence as the musical director for Ian Dury's Blockheads, helping to steer those pub rock survivors away from punk and toward funk, disco, and pop.
Chaz went further into fusion on his own, creating a stylish music that bridged the boundaries between new wave and the mainstream.
When Quincy Jones spotted "Ai No Corrida" on Chaz's eponymous solo debut and decided to have Dune sing the tune, the song became an international hit, reaching 28 on Billboard's Hot 100 and 14 on the U.K. charts,. This established Jankel as a force outside of the Blockheads.
Over the next decade, Chaz Jankel worked on his own, releasing a total of four solo albums in the first half of the '80s and scoring a massive dance club hit with '81's "Glad to Know You."
Eventually Chaz wound his way back to Ian Dury Iserving as his chief collaborator on 98's Mr. Love Pants and 2000's Ten More Turnips from the Tip.
Ian Dury died shortly afterward, leaving Chaz as the leader of the Blockheads, a role he'd maintain alongside his solo career.
Born in 1952 in Middlesex, Chaz Jankel was drawn to music by Lonnie Donergan , the king of Britain's skiffle craze of the '60s. He had picked up the guitar as a child, then learned piano but while at boarding school, he fell in love with soul and funk. His first major band was the folk-rock group Byzantium and later he joined Jonathan Kelly's Outside, appearing on their '74 LP Waiting on You, then he went on to play with Kilburn and the High Roads during their final days in the mid-'70s.
Jankel hit it off with Kilburn leader Ian Dury, so once the High Roads split, the pair formed the Blockheads, a punk band that supported Ian Dury on his '77 solo debut, New Boots and Panties! It wa at this time that the band steered itself towards funk and disco - a shift in direction that accentuated Chaz Jankel's musical interests.
The album Do It Yourself turned into a huge hit for Ian Dury, providing momentum for Chaz to launch a solo career in 1980; although he'd continue to write with Ian Dury, notably collaborating on "Spasticus Autisticus" from 1981's Lord Upminster.
Signing with A&M, he released his eponymous solo debut Chasanova in 1981 and made inroads in the U.S. thanks to the single "Glad to Know You," which became a number one hit on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart, staying there for seven weeks.
That same year, Quincy Jones covered "Ai No Corrida," Chaz's lead track. Quincy's version became an international hit, turning the song into something of a new wave disco standard.
The album Chazablanca arrived in 83 and Looking at You came out in 85.
Jankel relocated to the US in the late 1980s, where he started to work as a film composer beginning with the Dennis Quaid -starring remake of the 1949 film noir D.O.A.; the latter was co-directed by Chaz's sister Annabel.
Chaz eventually returned to the UK in the mid-'90s, leading to a reunion with Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Jankel and Dury collaborated on the singer's final two albums, 1998's Mr Love Pants and 2000's Ten More Turnips from the Tip. Ian Dury died shortly after this in 2000 and Chaz Jankel continued to lead the Blockheads through a number of tours and records, all the while continuing to work on a solo career of his own. Throughout the 2000s, he regularly released albums. During the 2010s, his recording projects involved the Blockheads, who released Same Horse Different Jockey in 2013 and Beyond the Call of Dury in 2017.
Cherry Red Records released Glad to Knot You: The Anthology 1980 - 1986, a five-disc compilation of Jankel's recordings, in 2020 and more recently Chaz has released and reissued a recording of DOA Reimagined.
Chaz joins us today to share stories from his amazing journey.
#iandury&theblockheads #britishpunk #chazjankel #newwave #funk #disco
