Chesney Hawkes I have a love/hate relationship with One and Only.

POP SENSATION Chesney Hawkes says he is releasing new music to remind people he isn’t just famous for “that song”.
The Only and Only Singer, 50, also said he grew up with insecurities about how he looked and was shocked at the level of fame which came his way in the 90’s.
Describing his relationship with the cheesy track, he told GB News: “We’re like friends with benefits, we kind of fell out for a bit but nowadays we’re friends”.
Speaking to Mark Dolan on GB News, 50-year-old Hawkes said: “I’m almost like a custodian of the record, because it’s had so many kinds of emotional connections with so many people. I get messages all the time like ‘it was played at my wedding’ or ‘it was on I went to a gig when I met my wife’ or even played at funerals.”
Hawkes’ hit ‘The One and Only’, launched the unknown singer into the spotlight at just 19 years of age and was an instant success.The single topped the UK Singles Chart for five weeks as well as reaching the Top 10 in the United States in 1991.
The hit also turned a teenage Hawkes into a 90s heartthrob for millions of fans across the world. The star explained: “When I was young, I never thought that I was good looking or anything like that. But then when we put the first record out, I was always a musician, and it’s all I ever wanted to do; I wanted to be a musician.
“I never wanted to be a pop star or a heartthrob. That wasn’t my goal in life. And it certainly wasn’t the path that I thought that was for me. So when that happened, it was all a bit of a shock for me. I got thrown into the kind of machine that’s part of the music industry. I wanted to be known as a musician, a singer and a songwriter.”
The father of one says despite going on to do other work, his first hit is still the one he’s most known for: “I understand how people can get hung up on that song. It was a massive hit. But one of the reasons I wanted to put that box set out, I’ve got a fanbase that stuck with me all these years and they all know that I’ve put different records out over the years. But there are people out there that only know me for the one song. I do have a bunch of songs that are more requested than ‘The One and Only’.”
Whilst he has a backlog of other songwriting work and records, ‘The One and Only’ was an instant success for 19-year-old Chesney – something he still remembers as a “meteoric rise”. He said: “ The thing about that kind of meteoric rise is it comes out of nowhere. And one minute, I was a piano player in pubs and stuff around the area. And I was young doing that from like 15 years old, playing Elton John songs and John
Lennon and stuff like that.
“That’s where I learned my kind of craft really. Every show is different. What one can be like, I’m sitting
there in the corner and everyone’s ignoring me, and they’re drinking their beers or whatever. And so I just sit there just playing whatever and playing for myself. And then the next day, people will be calling out for requests for songs and things like that.”
Music and fame was always destined to be a career for Chesney, who is the son of Len Hawkes
from 60s band The Tremeloes and Carol Dilworth, a famous TV hostess known for The Golden Shot.
Hawkes describes being into music from a very young age: “I came out singing. I think I have never had
any other job apart from paperboy at like 14. I’ve always wanted to do this and I’ve always loved it. Even now, 30 years after my first record, I still can’t pass a guitar without picking it up. And music is still very much in my blood.”
He added: “My brother and sister and I were never going to be accountants. It was always going to be the entertainment business.”