About

Chuck-a-Luck - The Windy City Bass Legend

Charlie Hosch Jr. - stage name "Chuck-a-Luck” - is known as the "Chicago Windy City Bass Legend".

His introduction to music came when his father gave him an acoustic guitar at age 11. As a teen, he performed with several bands and clubs throughout the Chicago area. From there, Chuck-a-Luck started growing more as a musician and as an artist.

In 1977 he got his first big break auditioning for and being asked to play bass for The Emotions on the world tour for their hit single “Best of my Love” opening for The Commodores.

At the final show of that tour at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles producer/bandleader Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire saw Chuck-a-Luck perform and hired him to be the bassist for the next Emotions album. Under Maurice’s company Kalimba Productions (Deniece Williams, Ramsey Lewis, Jennifer Holliday) along with arranger Tom Tom Washington they recorded “Sunbeam”(1978) at the famous Sunset Sound and Hollywood Sound Recorders. A world tour followed with The Brothers Johnson.

They returned to Hollywood Sound Recorders to record “Come into Our World” and toured extensively along with doing live television appearances on shows such as Midnight Special and Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert. As a special note, Chuck-a-Luck played on 80% of the songs on these albums - composing his own basslines. Take a listen!

In the early 1980s Chuck-a-Luck became an in demand studio session musician and part of Chicago's R&B scene, working with the Chi-lites, The Dells, Walter Jackson and Gene Chandler.

By the end of the decade, he returned to his Blues Roots he recorded and toured the nation and the world with Otis Clay, Bo Diddley, BB King, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Sunnyland Slim, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Billy Branch, Little Milton, and harmonica legend Sugar Blue (played on Rolling Stones “Miss You”).

Fluent in all idioms of music, he has played with veterans such as Pop Staples and The Staples Singers, Jamaican Reggae artist John Holt, Avante-guard Jazz artist Famoudou Don Moye of The Art Ensemble of Chicago and African artists Suso Foday (Mali) and Mantulia Mandingo (Zaire).

With Famoudou Don Moye’s band The Art Ensemble of Chicago he opened up for jazz legends Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter during a tour abroad at The Sun Percussion Summit in Sardinia, Italy.

Chuck-a-Luck is an artist with a vision, a mentor, and a strong believer in musical integrity and artistic expression. He has expanded his horizons by producing his own compositions. He started Bass Tribe Nations LLC, a musical, theatrical and film production company based out of Los Angeles, Chicago and Las Vegas. An example of his social consciousness is the anti-violence program that he started in Chicago for the under-resourced youth called Down with Guns Up with Instruments.

Continuing to serve his mission he created BassTribes Online Magazine to document the contribution of African-American bass players in the music industry and to interview, showcase and collaborate with musicians of all backgrounds around the world.

His highly anticipated solo debut is finally here, and fans and critics alike couldn’t be more excited. Chuck-a-Luck is available for bookings, guest appearances, and interviews. Feel free to get in touch!