Chesney Hawkes
The 'One and Only' Chesney Hawkes!
Approximately 50,000 singles were released in the UK during the nineties. With five weeks at the top, the twentieth most successful release of that entire decade was ‘The One and Only', the lead song from the soundtrack of the film "Buddy's Song" sung by a 19 year old Chesney Hawkes.
Gigs. Over the past few years Chesney has been amazingly busy with his four piece band and has performed live at over 600 gigs.
Combined performances at big open air summer roadshows together with working abroad have brought the ‘live' audience total to which he has performed during the period to over 1 million.
Chesney performs with a 4 piece live band and the performance is usually for approx 50 minutes featuring some really great rock / pop covers and finishing of course with The One And Only!
Some of the songs in Chesney's set -
- Crazy
- I Predict a Riot
- On the Road Again
- Sex on Fire
- American Pie
- Another Fine Mess
- Here Comes My Baby (Tremeloes)
- The One and Only
2012
In 2011 Chesney's ever active work schedule went into overdrive. The year started with an appearance on Louis Spence's Showbusiness.
Chesney's Fred Astaire like (?) dancing skills were then on display during a heat, and then the final, of 'Let's Dance for Comic Relief', and then, undeterred by the pain and humiliation, he signed up for ITV's 'Sing if You Can' where he narrowly escaped being burnt to death. 2011 also saw him tour the country on a 'live' schedule that kicked off in 2000 and has never let up!
In the summer he played 22 dates on a Reflex club tour, maintained his legendary status in the halls of academia with university appearances including Kent, Southampton and Bath and wowed the crowds at the Isle of Wight 'Legends in the Park' festival in July. On the 20th anniversary of the release of 'The One and Only' the enduring quality of the song received a further endorsement by it's quirky inclusion in the Duncan Jones directed 'Source Code' which starred Jake Gyllenhaal. In October, Chesney started training for 'Dancing on Ice'.
The Album: Another Fine Mess
The album is a collection of 16 songs, all co-written by Chesney but for one track, 'Come and Get it', a Chesney favourite which was written by Paul McCartney and recorded by Badfinger, reaching NO:4 back in 1970 - before Chesney was born! Brimming with talented collaborators, producers on the album include Charlton Pettus, acclaimed for his work with Tears for Fears, Nik Kershaw who also co wrote the title song, and of course The One and Only, and Chris Nicolaides, following his work on Mika's multi-Platinum selling album, Life in Cartoon Motion. Co-writers on the album include Phil Thornally, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and, of course, Nik.
The Gigs In 2001 Chesney embarked on a 'mini' tour with his four piece band. Initially intended to take in five dates, the touring has never stopped Headlining at universities, colleges, and clubs continues unabated and performances have now passed the 900 date mark during this period. Further appearances at festivals and radio promoted open air summer road shows, together with events abroad, have brought the combined 'live' audience to which he has performed to close to 2 million.
TV/Radio Chesney has combined touring with TV appearances and radio interviews. These have included Channel 4's Top Ten Teen Idols, judging on Britain's Got More Talent, CD:UK, BBC Breakfast, London Tonight, VH1, Popworld, Question of Pop, Banzai, Loose Women, The Wright Stuff, Bliss, This Morning, BBC's The Cinema Show and Big Brother's Big Mouth. Radio interviews include Jonathan Ross, Steve Wright, Edith Bowman, Colin Murray, Claudia Winkleman, Paul Ross, Janice Long, Clive Anderson, Alex Zane, Scott Mills, Jamie Theakston, and Dermot O'Leary. He has presented two shows for VH1/MTV and has taken part in a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link. Chesney also took part in Channel 4's 'The Games' emerging a medal winner and he performed on the Granada/LWT show 'Hit Me Baby One More Time.' He has also appeared on a Champion of Champions edition of 'The Games', Big Brother, the Ant & Dec Show, The One Show, Daybreak, The Graham Norton Show and Bob Mortimer's Christmas production 'All Stars Impressionists' show.
Film/Theatre
Chesney's first acting role was as Buddy in the rock 'n roll movie 'Buddy's Song' which featured a cast of young actors destined to make their mark. These included Nick Moran and Julia Sawhala, who went on to create the character Saffy in Absolutely Fabulous, as well as Lee Ross, long before he appeared with Catherine Tate and in Eastenders. Heading the cast was rock legend, and The Who lead singer, Roger Daltrey, in the role of Chesney's dad.
Chesney's subsequent career has been firmly rooted in music but at Christmas 2007 he headed the cast at the Lowry theatre in Manchester for his first pantomime, playing Dick Whittington in a cast that included an emergent comedy talent, John Bishop.
In 2008 Chesney toured the country playing the lead in Bill Kenwright's production 'Can't Smile Without You', the musical based, of course, on the songs of Barry Manilow.
Jack and the Beanstalk, his second pantomime, played at the Grimsby Auditorium during Christmas 2009 and at Christmas 2010 he played the lead in Aladdin in Northampton. In September 2011 Chesney is played the lead in the Milton/Morrissey production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in Guernsey.
Songs/Compositions Chesney has worked with writers and producers from a broad section of the industry, among them Mark Goldenberg (The Eels), Jesse Valenzuela (The Gin Blossoms) and Counting Crows producer Marvin Etzioni. Other collaborators include Howard Jones, the Police's Stuart Copeland, Nik Kershaw, Bijou Phillips and more recently Rob Davis (co-writer of Kylie's Can't Get you out of My Head). Artists continue to cover his songs and he has had material recorded by three international Pop Idol winners. English band 'Hepburn' covered "Next Life", which Chesney co-wrote with Phil Thornally. (Phil co-wrote "Torn" for Natalie Imbruglia). Caprice charted with "Once Around The Sun" which Chesney co-wrote with Eric Pressley and he also collaborated with Tricky on his 'Mission Accomplished' EP. Another of Chesney's songs, "Almost You", was in the film "Jawbreaker" starring Rose McGowan and Marilyn Manson and "Missing You Already" was in the film "The Night We Never Met", starring Matthew Broderick. In mid 2007 Chesney co-composed an orchestral piece commissioned by Lexus Cars for a live presentation. The piece was recorded at AIR Studios by the London Symphony Orchestra and represents Chesney's first orchestral work. The Duncan Jones movie Source Code, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal, opened in the UK on 1st April 2011. The film features a 2011 Nik Kershaw/Chesney Hawkes production of The One and Only.
In 2009 Chesney's song 'Celebrate' was recorded by Chinese megastar Jane Zhang for her album. Jane has 15 No:1s to her credit and performing 'Celebrate' on the Oprah Winfrey Show represented her US TV debut. Chesney also wrote the title track for the film 'All's Faire In Love' which stars Christina Ricci. His song "Seven of Sundays" has been recorded by Curt Smith, founder member of Tears for Fears. Jane has since recorded two more of Chesney's songs.
The Autobiography
Chesney is nearing completion of his autobiography entitled 'Who I Really Am'. Even when he needed a title for the book, a line from the ever present One and Only came to the rescue. The book is to be published in 2012.
Back to 1991 Approximately 50,000 singles were released in the UK during the nineties. With five weeks at the top, the twentieth most successful release of that entire decade was 'The One and Only', the lead song from the soundtrack of the film "Buddy's Song" sung by the 19 year old Chesney Hawkes. The song has gone on to be the subject of numerous compilation albums, TV ads, TV theme music, film soundtracks and, now a student anthem, continues to top 'Best pop song of the nineties' polls.
Don't forget if you are thinking of booking a Cabaret or Celebrity Artist for your event we can also help with Awards Presenters, Comedians, fabulous Party Bands or Tributes, DJs, Close up Magicians, amazing Lookalikes for Meet and Greet, Circus Acts and many different types of Themed Entertainment plus much, much more.
