Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Hot track: The One & Only
Year: 1991
Chart Position: 1
British teen heartthrob Chesney Hawkes scored one of the biggest hits in the UK during the early part of the ’90s only to vanish as quickly as he had arrived. Hawkes was born on September 22, 1971 and had the pedigree for show business. His father, Len (Chip) Hawkes played bass for the ’60s UK outfit The Tremeloes, who narrowly missed the Top 10 in the States with Silence Is Golden, and his mother, Carol Hawkes, was a UK television hostess and actress. Hawkes appeared in the 1990 movie Buddy’s Song alongside The Who’s Roger Daltrey, which was about Buddy Holly. In early 1991, the Nik Kershaw-penned I Am The One And Only scaled the charts in the UK, staying at the summit for five weeks. Later that year, the track managed to crack the Top 10 in America following its inclusion in the Michael J Fox comedy Doc Hollywood. Hawkes was unable to follow the success of the initial single in either country with I’m A Man Not A Boy proving to be a failure. He released the album Get The Picture in 1993, but he was again given the cold shoulder by the record-buying public and shifted his focus to acting. There were minor roles including ones in 1995’s rock musical McGregor’s Trap and 1997’ Prince Valiant, as well as sporadic musical performances. In 2001, Hawkes returned to music with the single Stay Away Baby Jane, but it barely scraped onto the charts in the UK and Hawkes maintained his status as a one-hit wonder.
