Eddie Chacon

Eddie Chacon broke through in 1992 as one-half of Charles & Eddie, whose global smash “Would I Lie to You?” stuck out toward the end of the new jack swing gold rush with a modern makeover of ’60s-styled pop-soul. Although that’s easily the song for which he’s most known, Chacon’s career can be traced back deep into the previous decade, and involves songs co-written across the years for the vastly different likes of Chico Debarge, Feargal Sharkey, Eternal, and several Scandinavian pop acts. Since returning to music after an extended absence, Chacon has recorded and performed as part of another duo, the Polyamorous Affair (with wife Sissy Sainte-Marie), and has also released the 2020 solo album Pleasure, Joy and Happiness, a concise set of modest and intimate ballads made with John Carroll Kirby.
Chacon was born in Oakland and grew up in Castro Valley, California. In the mid-’70s, just before he became a teenager, he formed a hard-rocking garage band called Fly by Night — later Fry by Night, thanks to an accepted flyer typo — with friends Cliff Burton and Mike Bordin, before those musicians became known respectively in Metallica and Faith No More. The following decade, Chacon signed a songwriting deal with CBS. His career moved in fits and starts from 1987 through 1989. He released an update of the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” on Columbia, but a subsequent album recorded for the major label went unreleased.
Under the alias Edward Anthony Luis, Chacon was then signed to Skyyline, a subsidiary of Luther Campbell’s Skyywalker Records (before it was renamed Luke Records). The singles “Good for You” and “Truly” saw commercial release, but the parent LP, Sugaree — the entirety of which Chacon wrote, arranged, and produced — received only a promotional pressing, deprioritized as a consequence of Campbell’s sudden mainstream infiltration with 2 Live Crew. During the same era, Chacon co-wrote songs recorded by Chico DeBarge (“Love Addiction”), Feargal Sharkey (“Out of My System”), and Tyren Perry (“You Are My Everything”).
A development deal through Capitol, aided by demos recorded with the Dust Brothers, enabled Chacon to bounce back in the early ’90s. While riding the New York City subway, he met another aspiring artist, Philadelphia native Charles Pettigrew, who happened to be signed to Capitol by the same A&R, Josh Deutsch. Chacon and Pettigrew bonded and became a duo. Their debut single as Charles & Eddie, “Would I Lie to You?,” entered the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1992 and later peaked at number 13. It topped the official charts in numerous territories including the U.K. and Germany. Charles & Eddie scored three additional Top 40 hits in the U.K, including “N.Y.C. (Can You Believe This City?),” written about their chance meeting. They ultimately released two albums, Duophonic and Chocolate Milk, the latter of which contained “Wounded Bird,” a song featured prominently in the film True Romance. Following Deutsch’s departure from Capitol, Chacon and Pettigrew clashed with their label, were let out of their contract, and opted to move in separate directions.
While Charles & Eddie were active, Chacon picked up some extra work as a songwriter and all-around session hand. He co-wrote Eternal’s “Save Our Love,” a number 12 hit in the group’s native U.K. in 1994. Recruited by Danish producer Poul Bruun during the same period, Chacon notably co-wrote Hanne Boel’s single “All It Takes.” Sessions with Bruun in Scandinavia and at Chacon’s Los Angeles home studio, among other locations, continued well into the 2000s. Although Chacon and Pettigrew remained in contact and sent demos to one another, nothing materialized. Pettigrew died of cancer in 2001. Chacon distanced himself from music not long afterward. He took up photography, which developed into a career as a creative director.
Beside his wife and professional partner, stylist Sissy Sainte-Marie, he returned to music in 2008 as one-half of the club-oriented Polyamorous Affair, who issued three albums before ceasing early the next decade. Chacon eventually got the urge to make music again, and with producer and fellow songwriter John Carroll Kirby (Norah Jones, Blood Orange, Solange) recorded Pleasure, Joy and Happiness, released independently in July 2020. ~ Andy Kellman