Rickie Lee Jones Remembers the Late Chuck E. Weiss, Los Angeles Music Legend and ‘Svengali to Tom Waits’

Reports circulated on social media beginning Tuesday afternoon that Chuck E. Weiss, celebrated (and, perhaps, underappreciated) singer/songwriter/vocalist who was a fixture on the Los Angeles music scene with his band the Goddamn Liars for decades, has passed away at the age of 76.

Rickie Lee Jones remembers Chuck E. Weiss: 'He was a Svengali to Tom Waits and everyone who knew him' https://t.co/2xtkyF2ntr via @LATimes pic.twitter.com/oRVlQ3NPkK

— Cary Baker (@Conqueroo1) July 21, 2021

Among the notable moments in the life and career of Chuck E. Weiss included his affiliation with the Viper Room alongside friend/musical colleague/Viper Room co-founder Johnny Depp and being the inspiration behind the title of “Chuck E.’s In Love,” which became a No. 4 hit for Rickie Lee Jones in 1979.

Jones penned a remembrance piece that was published by the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday afternoon, which noted that Weiss passed after “an extended battle with cancer.” Jones’ heartfelt piece reflected on how she first met Weiss — whom she deems Tom Waits’ “sidekick”:

An excerpt from the full piece:

But there was a love there, something between them, a symbiotic relationship like the fish who cleans the shark. When I met them, and it was them I met, not him, or him, Chuck was the wiser of the two, and given the chance might have been the kinder, but he had already found his way to barbiturates and fooled himself into thinking it was a better way to go than heroin. It certainly did not shake up the A&R guys the way skag did, but the damage was every bit as bad — addicting, debilitating and a sad substitute for respect and love.

Still, he was a Svengali to Waits, and everyone who knew him. While Chuck’s music might have seemed derivative, what he passed on to others was as authentic as it got, at least for people who never experienced the real thing. The music he played live was the music he loved. And for the white kids lining up outside the Central on Sunset Blvd., this was as close to the Black clubs of Cleveland and Memphis as they were ever gonna get.

The official Facebook page for Kinky Friedman, one of Weiss’ longtime musical pals and colleagues, shared the following late Tuesday evening:

Kinky’s dear pal and L.A. music legend Chuck E. Weiss has passed away. Kinky rarely made a trip to L.A. without meeting Chuck E. for lunch at Cantor’s Deli and they’d just recently finished writing a song together titled appropriately enough “See You Down The Highway”. RIP Chuck E. #chuckeweiss #kinkyfriedman #tomwaits #rickieleejones

Paul Body, a friend of Weiss’s and himself a staple of the Los Angeles scene at the Troubadour, sent out a lengthy remembrance post on Wednesday, recalling his friendship with Weiss:

Once again, I have to say something that I never wanted to say …..that True Blue Rock and Roll Viking, Chuck E. Weiss has been booked to play the party at the Top of The Stairs. He had been ill for a bit. Saw him a few weeks ago, wrote him a little note, told that I love him and that we’d see other further down the line. Met him in ’74 or ’75. I think it was at a Big Joe Turner Show where Don Heffington was playing drums. This during a time when all the hip cats were building UP their record collections becauser they had to money to go back and get all of the stuff that we couldn’t get when were kids. There were some fearsome games of trying to outdo the other guy. One night at the Troub, I thought I am going to get the winning hand. So I meantioned We Wanna Boogie by Sonny Burgess. I thought he was going to say that he didn’t know about Sonny Burgess. Instead it went like this, Chuck E. mentioned Sonny’s red hair, red suit and his red Caddy. I was silenced. From then on, we were as tight ad Parisian girls Levis. Had quite adventures. Man, we saw Mink Deville together, we saw Link Wray together and it went on and and on. One time he was doing a radio show and he played You Talk About Love by Barbara George. That floored me. Only a little friction over a certain girl screwed Things for a minute. I doubted him when he said he knew Muddy Waters. So Muddy was playing the Roxy and we went to see him. After the show we go UPstairs and we walk into Muddy’s dressing room, Muddy saw us and said,”If it ain’t that Big head Chuck E. Weiss”. WOW. He did know Muddy. He was called Big Head ever since that day by me, Grosse Tete came later. Missed some of the stuff at Viper Room because I was hearing that factory whistle blowing. Caught the Piano Bar gigs. He was still cooking. Grosse Tete was Rock and Roll through and through. Once we were listening to Down The Road Apiece and he said in that voice of his….”Body, I just wish that kept going”. Man, was he right. Of course, all of us who knew him are heartbroken. the Point called me and I could hear it in his voice. Grosse Tete might b e gone, he night be at some coffee shop far, far away but he will always be here with us. The last day I saw him, I waas driving away from the hospital and I was listening to You Can’t Catch Me that song about a flying car. Well I guess Grosse Tere has hitched a ride on that flying car. All I can say is, A plus, Grosse Tete, thanks for the knowledge, like Paris, the only time I will think about you, is when I breath. Love you, man.

Poet/author Michael Lally remembered his friend with a post on Wednesday as well: