Charles Pettigrew

Charles Pettigrew began his career in Boston as the lead singer of the new-wave dance band Down Avenue. With his distinctive, soulful voice and local radio hits like “Girlfriend” and “Winters Past”, the band won first place at the 1985 WBCN Rock ‘n’ Roll Rumble, due in no small part to Pettigrew’s commanding stage presence and incredible singing skills. His voice was reminiscent of Smokey Robinson’s; in another era, Motown would have been his home.

As Pettigrew’s vocal style was best suited to pure rhythm and blues, the band went their separate ways. After that, in a chance encounter in New York City, Pettigrew met Eddie Chacon and they formed Charles & Eddie; four of the R&B duo’s songs made the top 40 in the UK and some European countries including “Would I Lie to You?,” which reached #1 in 1992. The pair recorded two albums of original material before disbanding in 1996, with Pettigrew going on to record with Tom Tom Club (formed by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz following Talking Heads’ split). He died in 2001 of cancer at age 37.

When Charles & Eddie were at the height of their popularity, Pettigrew told me that he’d been exploited by the music industry, saying that his kindly nature had been abused and misused. The man with the velvet voice and gentle heart who’d once made Boston his home said that he’d seen the ugly underbelly of the pop-music business up close, and he blamed it for limiting his career and cutting his life short.

(by Oedipus)