Chuck E. Weiss

The ultimate scene-maker, Chuck E. Weiss has spent a career hobnobbing with the cool and famous in rock's hierarchy while barely pursuing a career of his own. Born in Denver, Weiss was originally a drummer, touring with bluesman <a href="spotify:artist:6EZzVXM2uDRPmnHWq9yPDE">Lightnin' Hopkins</a>. By the late '60s, he had performed and/or recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:5v8WPpMk60cqZbuZLdXjKY">Willie Dixon</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:320TrJub4arztwXRm7kqVO">Dr. John</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1RP2UpEaRzkF0Id3JigqD8">Roger Miller</a>, and others. While still in Denver, he struck up a friendship with singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:7x83XhcMbOTl1UdYsPTuZM">Tom Waits</a>, later writing songs like "Spare Parts" with him and moving to Los Angeles. Living at West Hollywood's infamous Tropicana Motel with <a href="spotify:artist:7x83XhcMbOTl1UdYsPTuZM">Waits</a> and singer <a href="spotify:artist:0dYkMe3wK29DulSa0uR8Rq">Rickie Lee Jones</a>, Weiss became the subject of <a href="spotify:artist:0dYkMe3wK29DulSa0uR8Rq">Jones</a>' hit "Chuck E.'s in Love." Weiss' career finally stumbled off the launching pad with the 1981 release of The Other Side of Town, a collection of demo tapes released on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Select+Records%22">Select Records</a>. Rather than follow this up with a proper release, Weiss instead put together a band called the G-d Damn Liars and spent the next 11 years performing a weekly gig at the L.A. nightclub the Central; he later partnered with friend <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Johnny Depp</a> to convert the club into the Viper Room. After an 18-year hiatus from recording, Weiss' second album, Extremely Cool, was released on a <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rykodisc%22">Rykodisc</a> subsidiary, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Slow+River%22">Slow River</a>, in 1999. Old Souls & Wolf Tickets appeared in 2001, followed by 23rd & Stout in 2007.

Weiss spent the next six years performing in and around Los Angeles, occasionally touring. He re-entered the studio in late 2013 and emerged with the self-produced Red Beans & Weiss on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Anti%22">Anti</a>. The album's executive producers were actor <a href="spotify:artist:3OsHwkxpSIEqqmYoQxZTT5">Johnny Depp</a> and singer/songwriter <a href="spotify:artist:7x83XhcMbOTl1UdYsPTuZM">Tom Waits</a>. Chuck E. Weiss died in Los Angeles on July 19, 2021; he was 76 years old. ~ Cub Koda, Rovi