Chesney Hawkes: A Songwriters' Circle

Born into a musical family (his father is the singer Chip Hawkes, formerly with the 1960s band The Tremeloes), Chesney Hawkes' own career began at 19, when he appeared as the title character in the film Buddy's Song alongside Roger Daltrey. In March 1991, he released his biggest single The One And Only, from the film's soundtrack. Written By Nik Kershaw, the song was later featured in the opening credits of Doc Hollywood (1991), starring Michael J. Fox. The single spent five weeks at Number 1. It has become part of the soundtrack of a generation, and still features on radio playlists, compilations and in DJ sets everywhere.

Subsequent singles also charted, including What's Wrong With This Picture? , his 2002 collaboration with Adam Schlessinger of Fountains of Wayne, Stay Away Baby Jane and his most recent release Another Fine Mess in 2006, which was a collaboration with Nik Kershaw and saw the pairing return to the charts, 15 years after their first success.
In 2001 Chesney embarked on a 'mini' tour with his four piece band, which was initially intended to take in five dates. The word spread very quickly and universities, colleges and clubs all over the country were soon booking Chesney and the band. The 'mini' tour has now exceeded 600 dates and when added to Chesney's performances at many open air summer radio road shows and festivals, the combined 'live' audience to which he has performed during the period has now topped the 1 million mark.

In 2008, Chesney starred in a national tour of the new musical, Can't Smile Without You, featuring more than 40 of the songs of Barry Manilow.

Taking a brief sojourn from touring with his band, Chesney performed a number of solo acoustic shows in 2009 and 2010 and also guested with his friend Nik Kershaw. He released a new studio album, Real Life Love, at the end of 2012 and one of the tracks, Aeroplane featured, along with the man himself, in John Bishop's Christmas 2013 show Panto.