Fame and Fortune: Chesney Hawkes’s huge pop hit 'The One and Only' led to debts and mortgage arrears
Chesney Hawkes, the pop singer, shot to fame with the release of his number one single The One and Only in 1991. Now 43, he and his wife Kristina live in Los Angeles with their three children.
How did your childhood influence your work ethic and attitude towards money?
My parents were very rock ’n’ roll and my upbringing was quite liberal. My dad was a pop star in a band called the Tremeloes. He was not the greatest with money – they spent a lot, put it that way. My attitude as a young man, when I’d made it into money, was also quite rock ’n’ roll. I was not exactly thinking about the future; I was living in the now and not really putting money aside – I was spending it.
What was your very first job?
Back when I was 13 or 14, we lived in between Wentworth and Sunningdale golf courses, so me and my brother used to do rounds as a caddie, and get £10 a round.
Has there been a time in your life when you didn’t know how you were going to pay the bills?
Yes. There was a time when I was quite far in a hole. My income started to dry up a couple of years after I had the big success with The One and Only. My record label dropped me, and I’d been spending way too much money. I remember buying all my family a car, a studio… I wasn’t very sensible about money. I’d bought a house in west London and I was at a point where I couldn’t afford to even pay the mortgage. I was only about 23 at the time.
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Did you miss any mortgage payments?
I missed a couple of payments, but I wasn’t in danger of losing the house. It was more that I was in the red with the bank – I got myself into an overdraft situation. I was probably £20,000 in debt at the worst point.
What happened next?
A friend of mine took over a room, which helped to pay the mortgage. It was a lifesaver. And then I started writing songs for other people and got a publishing deal, which got me out of the hole. Not long after that, in 1995, I met my wife. She came from a different background. Her dad was in the banking business. She was a bit more sensible.
What’s the worst thing about being broke?
In my case, because I’d experienced this crazy time where I’d had so much money, the worst thing was going from being a rich kid to not being able to buy a round, in a pretty short space of time. It was embarrassing. It was like a sudden realisation of oh s---, things weren’t quite as I expected them [to be]. It was a difficult time.
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What’s the best wage you have ever earned?
I can’t tell you that! But by far the most amount of money I’ve ever earned in my life was during the period of time when I was 18 to 20 years old. I earned over six figures during that time. It wasn’t just from The One and Only, I starred in a film [Buddy’s Song] – there was a lot going on at that time.
How much money have you made over the years from The One and Only?
I wouldn’t even like to hazard a guess. People don’t realise the complexity of [making money from] something like that. I didn’t write the song [it was written by Nik Kershaw] and I was signed to a record label. You have to recoup the money that was spent by the record label before you start earning any money as an artist. It took a long time – about 10 years – before I actually recouped all the money that was spent by the label early on.
How come the record label spent so much money?
In those days, the Eighties and Nineties, everybody did. You make records on laptops now, but I spent six months in Abbey Road [studios], making my first album – that cost over £200,000. I remember making a music video that cost a quarter of a million pounds. These days, to spend that kind of money on a video would be obscene. Technology has come on so you don’t have to spend that much. It’s very difficult to make that kind of money back unless you have huge success.
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Do you get royalties from The One and Only now?
Yes, but I wouldn’t say the income would keep me in the way I’ve become accustomed. It’s not going to pay for our whole lives. I’ve had to go out and earn a wage. That’s one thing about being famous – people just assume that you’re rich. Fame and fortune go together in most people’s eyes, but that’s not always the case.
What was the first big extravagant purchase you made after the money started rolling in?
My studio. I always wanted to have my own proper recording studio so I built a full 24-track studio at the back of my parents’ house which, in those days, cost a fortune. The equipment cost thousands and thousands of pounds – crazy money. In total, I’d say I spent at least £100,000 on that studio. But when my parents sold the house I literally had to give the equipment away – all those huge machines were worth nothing. Recording analogue was obsolete.
Are you a spender or a saver?
I spend when I can. I don’t mind spending money. I can spend a big amount of money and not worry – I have a good relationship with money. I just let it go. You know, money just comes and goes. If the world is a body, I feel like blood is the money, it goes around, coming and going, coming and going. Obviously I do save. My wife is good with that kind of stuff. But if we need to spend on something then we do.
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Do you own a property?
I still have my two-bed house in west London, which I rent out. It’s the best investment I ever made. I bought it in 1993 for £120,000. It’s worth a lot now – £850,000.
If you were Chancellor, how would you tax people differently?
I don’t like inheritance tax. That’s something I’ve always felt is a little unfair.
How do you prefer to pay?
Credit card. I live my life on credit card. I’m back and forth to America so much that cash can get in the way. I’ve got a Virgin Atlantic American Express – I try to gather air miles if I can.
Do you always pay off your credit card bill in full?
Absolutely. Every time.
How do you tip?
I feel like I’m a pretty good tipper, because living in America has given me a different perspective. At home, you can put a few coins in a tray, and if you tipped 25pc that would be the best tip of the day. But that’s the norm in California. If you don’t tip at least 20pc, you’re being rude.
How do you feel about investing in stocks and shares?
It’s not my area of expertise. I have a financial adviser and some investments in Isas. My wife looks after that side of things. We don’t really go too risky. We lost quite a lot of money in the crash. It’s gone back up again a little bit, but not to what it was.
How much did you lose?
30pc.
Do you support any charities?
I’ve raised quite a lot of money for the White Lodge Centre, a charity for disabled adults and children, and I’m a patron of Global Angels, an international children’s charity run by Molly Bedingfield – Natasha and Daniel’s mum – and Love146, which aims to eradicate child sex traffic.
What are your financial priorities for the next five or 10 years?
We’re hoping to buy a four-bed house in the San Fernando Valley in California soon, with the proceeds of a smaller house we sold in the UK. We’re not going to stretch ourselves too much financially. House prices in LA are quite similar to London. A four-bed house costs anywhere between $800,000 (£508,000) and $1m (£635,000). I need to keep working hard – and keep buying lottery tickets.
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- Chesney Hawkes will perform at the '80s V 90s’ night of Lytham Festival, August 2-9, Lancashire. His latest album, Real Life Love, is out now.
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