{{Short description|Scottish musician (born 1934)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Chas McDevitt | image = Chas McDevitt Aldershot 2017.jpg | alt = | caption = Chas McDevitt in 2017 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1934|12|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Eaglesham, Glasgow, Scotland | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | citizenship = | other_names = | current_member_of = The Chas Dewitt Skiffle Group | education = | alma_mater = | employer = | occupation = Musician | instruments = Banjo | genre = Skiffle, Dixiland Jazz | label = Oriole Records | years_active = | height = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relations = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | footnotes = }}
'''Charles James McDevitt''' (born 4 December 1934) is a Scottish musician<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chasmcdevitt.co.uk/page2_aboutchas.html|title=Early Days|website=Chasmcdevitt.co.uk|accessdate=7 October 2019}}</ref> who was one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s.<ref>J. P. Ward, ''Britain and the American South: From Colonialism to Rock and Roll'', University Press of Mississippi, 2009, pp. 192–6.</ref>
==Biography== ===Early life=== McDevitt was born in Eaglesham, Glasgow, Scotland.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=817}}</ref> His family moved to Camberley, Surrey, when he was a child. As a teenager he taught himself the banjo, and began corresponding with blues artists including Josh White. He also joined a local Dixieland jazz group.
===Music career=== Dewitt moved to London in 1955, and began playing with the Crane River Jazz Band.<ref name="Larkin"/> At the same time, he formed a small skiffle group, which busked and performed in coffee bars and jazz clubs in Soho. It won a talent contest, organised by Radio Luxembourg.<ref name="Larkin"/>
In late 1956, whilst recording the song "Freight Train" – written by folk blues singer Elizabeth Cotten<ref name="Larkin"/> – for Oriole Records, studio owner Bill Varley suggested they should add a female singer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chasmcdevitt.com/Skiffle.htm |title=RIDIN' THE FREIGHT TRAIN WITH CHAS McDEVITT (Archived copy) |accessdate=2013-04-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130524021114/http://www.chasmcdevitt.com/Skiffle.htm |archivedate=2013-05-24 }} Chas McDevitt: Skiffle</ref> As a result, folk singer Nancy Whiskey was invited to join the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group, and they re-recorded the song with her vocals.<ref name="Larkin"/> The record became a hit in the UK in 1957 at the height of the skiffle boom, reaching Number 5 in the UK Singles Chart.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | pages= 338}}</ref>
In the United States, the song was covered by Rusty Draper, who had the bigger hit. Nevertheless, McDevitt's group appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', their record became a million seller,<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book | first= Joseph | last= Murrells | year= 1978 | title= The Book of Golden Discs | url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr | url-access= registration | edition= 2nd | publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd | location= London | page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/96 96] | isbn= 0-214-20512-6}}</ref> and their success led them to tour with acts such as Slim Whitman and Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. They also replaced Jerry Lee Lewis on his ill-fated 1958 tour of the UK. The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group was the only British skiffle group, other than Lonnie Donegan's, to achieve international success.{{citation needed|date=August 2008}}
After Whiskey left in 1957, McDevitt had less commercial success, and his group disbanded around 1959.<ref name="Larkin"/> He then formed a duo with his wife Shirley Douglas,<ref name="Larkin"/> until their professional and personal relationship ended in the 1970s. Since then, McDevitt has continued to perform as the leader of a re-formed group, and also remains active in charitable work, including through his membership of the showbusiness charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Nancy Whiskey died in February 2003. In 2006, McDevitt appeared on the BBC television quiz show ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905855/fullcredits|title="Never Mind the Buzzcocks" Episode #19.4 (TV Episode 2006) |website=IMDb.com|accessdate=7 October 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.chasmcdevitt.co.uk/ Official website] *[http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dirc/chasm.htm More information at 45-rpm.org]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McDevitt, Chas}} Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish banjoists Category:Entertainers from Camberley Category:Skiffle musicians Category:Oriole Records (UK) artists