British novelty act Chas & Dave, consisting of vocalist-guitarist Charles "Chas" Hodges and vocalist-bassist Dave Peacock, delivered their first recording, One Fing 'n' Anuvver, during 1976. They launched their independent imprint Rockney and subsequently joined a package tour behind the British doo wop revival group the Darts, bringing drummer Mick Burt along. Although the 1978 EMI long-player Rockney and its single "Strummin'" helped the pair cultivate an audience, their genuine breakthrough arrived after advertising executive John Webster caught them performing in a pub and recognized that their sound, look, and especially the number "Gertcha" suited a campaign he was preparing for Courage Best beer.
Slowed down and fitted with fresh lyrics, the track powered an uproariously comic television spot that lifted Courage Best sales while giving the duo their first widespread national exposure, turning "Gertcha" itself into a household phenomenon. Over the ensuing eighteen months, further Courage Best advertisements, each built around additional Chas & Dave singles such as "Margate" and "Rabbit," kept the pair in heavy rotation on British screens. Consequently their records found favor with the country's beer drinkers and television audiences alike, sending "Rabbit" to number eight in winter 1980, the football anthem "Ossie's Dream" to number five in spring 1981, and "Ain't No Pleasing You" to number two in spring 1982.
Subsequent releases failed to replicate that run until "Snooker Loopy" reached number six in 1986, after which the duo ceased charting and redirected their energies toward running a pub, making occasional television appearances, and staging intermittent live shows. They resurfaced in the early twenty-first century with old-time rock & roll albums including You're Never Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll in 2000, Rock 'n' Roll Party in 2001, and The World of Chas & Dave, Vol. 2 in 2002. Live performances and compilation releases continued across the years, among them the career-spanning Essential Chas & Dave in 2015 and the deeper-cuts collection The Other Side of Chas & Dave in 2018. Shortly after the latter project appeared, they issued A Little Bit of Us, their first album of entirely new material in thirty years, blending original songs with rocked-up renditions of early-twentieth-century vocal pop standards. Charles "Chas" Hodges passed away in September 2018 at the age of 74.
