Forming the American singing pair Charles Pettigrew, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he also passed away on 6 April 2001, and Eddie Chacon, a native of Oakland, California, began when the two encountered each other aboard a subway in New York. Chacon reportedly held Marvin Gaye’s Trouble Man, sparking their initial talk that led to joint performances. Chacon’s early years involved a soul group in his Oakland hometown before relocating to Miami, Florida, and collaborating on recordings with the Dust Brothers along with Daddy-O. The latter oversaw production for Chacon’s pair of solo records, which left him dissatisfied and eager to revisit the soul sounds of his younger days. Pettigrew grew up in Philadelphia and pursued jazz vocal training at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music in addition to performing in the pop outfit Down Avenue. Their global success arrived in 1992 via the track ‘Would I Lie To You?’, which reached the top of the UK singles chart, with an early 1993 follow-up ‘NYC (Can You Believe This City?)’ drawing from how they first connected. These appeared on the introductory album Duophonic, overseen by Josh Deutsch and featuring largely original compositions, such as Chacon’s ‘December 2’ honoring his sibling who died on that day. Three years afterward came a second, rather uninspired record that prompted their disbandment for individual endeavors. Pettigrew joined Tom Tom Club for their 2000 release The Good The Bad The Ugly before succumbing to cancer the next April.
