Chas Chandler

Chandler, 6ft tall and 18-stone, will be remembered as one of rock music's most amiable, good-natured, characters. He was an exception to the rule. A player who became an astute manager in a game where the two sides seldom mix successfully.

For a while in the late sixties and early seventies he could do no wrong, building up a formidable empire of companies including music publishing, a talent agency, record production and a recording studio. Along the way, he also inflicted a pop group called Slade upon an unsuspecting nation. His former career as a musician ensured that he commanded the respect and the trust of the young performers he nurtured.

Chandler was born in Heaton, Tyne and Wear. In his late teens he worked as a turner on the shopfloor at the Swan Hunter shipyard while at nights he gigged in Newcastle clubs with keyboard player Alan Price. In the early days they were a you-name-it, we'll-play-it kind of group. If someone wanted a modern jazz group for an evening then they'd be one. If they wanted Bill Haley covers then they'd do that too.

When beat music exploded upon the scene in the early sixties, first in Liverpool and then in Manchester, Price and Chandler (together with singer Eric Burdon, guitarist Hilton Valentine, and drummer John Steel) had formed The Animals, the group which emerged as Newcastle's contribution to the cause. By then they were a hard-edged R&B band. In January 1964 Mickie Most signed them and their first single, Baby Let me Take You Home, was a minor hit.

Later that year they released House of The Rising Sun which stormed to the top of the charts. It was a stunning record which broke all the rules; a traditional blues number about a New Orleans brothel which, at four-and-a-half minutes was about twice as long as most conventional singles of the time, and boasted one of the most enduring and memorable guitar riffs in pop history.

The Animals, however, were sucked in to the conveyor belt of British pop music. They produced a string of hits but, gradually, the potency of their music was diluted and the group split up acrimoniously after three solid years on the road. Chandler recalled later that, despite the success, he ended up without a penny to his name.

However, in 1966, while The Animals were still an item, the bass player had gone to a blues club in New York's Greenwich Village where he'd seen a brilliant young black guitarist perform. His name was Jimi Hendrix. Some months earlier Chandler had heard a single, Hey Joe, by singer-songwriter Tim Rose. The song had failed to make an impression on the charts but Chandler was convinced that it would be perfect for Hendrix.

The pair discussed details backstage and decided, there and then, that Chandler would manage the guitarist. Two months later he had left The Animals, signed Hendrix up to Kit Lambert's fledgling Track Records label, and taken Hey Joe to No 1.

Back in England, Chandler recruited bass player Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born. The group was at the forefront of pop's psychedelic movement but, after a string of ground-breaking albums and phenomenal success on the festival circuit, success began to take its toll on Hendrix. He had broken with his band and drifted into drugs. In 1967, Chandler sold out his managerial interest and moved on. The guitarist died of an overdose the following year.

In 1971 Chandler's managerial career took a turn for the better when he discovered Sheffield skinhead group, Slade, who he guided to success with a string of pop hits over the next 15 years. Indeed, it was Chas Chandler who talked lead singer Noddy Holder into writing a Christmas song (Merry Xmas Everybody). He was also involved in two brief attempts to resurrect The original Animals in 1977 and 1983.

Ten years ago Chandler married for a second time and decided to retire from the music business. He gave Slade back all the rights to their recordings and went back to live in Newcastle. Shortly before his death he had gone into partnership with old friend and businessman Nigel Stanger (the original sax player in the early Animals) and together they built Newcastle Arena, a music and sports venue which opened last year.