Chas McDevitt
Chas McDevitt (born Charles James McDevitt, Eaglesham, Glasgow, Scotland, 4 December 1934) is a British musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s. His family moved to Camberley, Surrey when he was a child. As a teenager he taught himself the banjo, and began corresponding with blues artists including Josh White. He also joined a local Dixieland jazz group. By 1955 he had moved to London, and began playing with the Crave River Jazz Band. At the same time, he formed a small skiffle group, which busked and performed in coffee bars and jazz clubs in Soho.
In late 1956, while recording the song "Freight Train" - written by folk blues singer Elizabeth Cotten - for Oriole Records, studio owner Bill Varley suggested they should add a female singer. As a result, folk singer Nancy Whiskey was invited to join the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group, and they re-recorded the song with her vocals. The record became a big hit in the UK in 1957 at the height of the skiffle boom, reaching # 5 in the charts. In the USA, the record was covered by Rusty Draper, who had the bigger hit. Nevertheless, McDevitt's group appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, their record became a million seller, and their success led them to tour with acts such as Slim Whitman and Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers. They also replaced Jerry Lee Lewis on his ill-fated 1958 tour of the UK. McDevitt's was the only British skiffle group, other than Lonnie Donegan's, to achieve international success.
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'Freight Train' 78 rpm record and sheet music
This skiffle hit was a transatlantic smash in 1957, selling over a million copies and leading to appearances on both The Ed Sullivan Show in America and The Tommy Steele Story in Britain. Chas McDevitt was a leading light in the skiffle scene for many years and even opened his own coffee bar in Soho, which he appropriately called The Freight Train.
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