At the tail end of the 1970s, we first heard Rickie Lee Jones, who had an Australian hit about some bloke called Chucky being in love.
Turns out, the song was about Chuck E. Weiss, a famous fixture on the Los Angeles music and nightclub scene, contemporary of Rickie and Tom Waits.
Together, they were night-hawks, making music and adventure under the California moonlight and neon glow.
Chuck started out as a drummer in Colorado, where he got to back blues legend Lightnin Hopkins. Chuck was a musician, song-writer, and he was the hippest of the hip for decades. He died in July – he was 76.
