Fusing together elements of punk, funk, metal and jazz Faith No More became one of the most
exciting bands to come out of the late 80’s and early 90’s with their releases Introduce
Yourself, The Real Thing and Angel Dust.
While vocalist chuck mosley exited the group just before they became mainstream he was
instrumental in helping them establish their sound and early fanbase, but sadly
his life was cut short.
Today let’s explore the lift and death of former Faith No More Frontman Chuck Mosley.
Adopted at the age of 1 Mosley would be born in Hollywood, but he was raised in both Venice
and South LA.Coincidentally enough his biological and adoptive parents had the same ethnic backgrounds.
He would have a Jewish mother and half-African-American/half-Native-American father.
HIs adoptive parents were active in the socialist and communist scene in LA and that’s where
they both met in the 50’s.
Mosley’s parents by his own admission used to hang out with a lot of hippies and his
father would even be arrested by the FBI.
Outside of politics, Mosley’s father served as a body guard to actor and musician Paul
Robeson and he knew charlie chaplain.
Mosley would meet Faith No More bassist Bill Gould in 1977 when the both of them attended
a punk rock show for the band the Zeroes Mosley would join Gould’s first band the Animated
as a keyboardist.
And they would soon go there separate ways with Mosley founding the punk group Haircuts
that kill.
Soon enough Mosley would reconnect with Gould around 1984 in his new outfit faith no more
as a stand in singer.
The band had played with a few vocalists at this point in time including Courtney Love,
yes that Courtney Love.
Mosley would joke about his expected short stint with the band telling popdose Three
shows turned into five turned into 10 turned into a few years" he'd say.
Producer Mat Wallace would work with the band on their debut album 1985’s we care a lot
and recalled how Mosley brought a punk approach to his vocals recalling to popdose “For
the first day, Chuck just literally did screaming, hardcore punk for lack of a better word.
We took him to the side and it was like, ‘You know, Frank Sinatra, do a little melody in
your voice.’
And, to Chuck’s credit, he came in the next day and he was singing,” he'd say.
Their debut album was released on indie label Mordam with very few copies being released.
Despite the lack of copies in circulation Their debut album however caught the attention
of slash records who put out their follow up introduce yourself.
Due to the low profile of we care a lot, many people thought introduce yourself was faith
no more’s debut album.
The record would feature a re-recording of the song we care a lot, which would get some
exposure on mtv.
Despite rave reviews and a faithful following in the uk, Faith No More’ future seemed
uncertain as the record sales simply weren’t really there.
During the tour to support introduce yourself, Mosley’s behavior became increasingly erratic
and tensions flared between himself and the bandmates..
To kill time on the road It was pretty common for the band to pick on one member repeatedly
making the experience unbearable for them.
Since Mosley was the newest member of the group he was the frequent target of his bandmates.
During their tour of Europe Mosley allegedly punched bassist Billy Gould on stage and Mosley’s
roadie allegeldy got into a fist fight with guitarist Jim Martin.
Gould would recall “By the time that happened, Chuck was already kind of out of it for me.
I guess Jim and the roadie had been drinking and they got in a fight.
It came a point where Jim was our guitar player, and he broke his hand fighting the guy.
It’s the first night of our European tour, and somebody had to go – it obviously wasn’t
going to be our guitar player.
Chuck took it very personally, sticking up for this roadie"he'd say.
When the band returned home they reached a breaking point with Mosley during rehearsal
with Gould recalling I went to rehearsal, and Chuck wanted to do all acoustic guitar
songs.
It was just so far off the mark.
The upshot was that I got up, walked out and quit the band.
I just said: ‘I’m done – I can’t take this any longer.
It’s just so ridiculous’.
After talking it over with his other bandmates they agreed hey wanted to keep playing together,
but decided unanimously that in order to keep the band going they had to fire Mosley.
Mosley’s firing would result in an ugly legal battle between both parties reaching
an out of court settlement.
Looking back at his time in the band, mosley would take credit for being one of the first
rap rock groups and also expressed some regret for inspiring nu-metal.
His close friend and biographer Douglas Esper would tell Decibel about Mosley’s mental
health struggles revealing “his self-doubt.
It consumed him.
It caused him to shoot himself in the foot, over and over, typically at the worst times.
He was always waiting for someone to turn off our sound and tell him he was a fraud.
He expected each night the crowd would boo us off the stage and say he wasn’t good
enough.
It’s all a projection of his inner demons.
He was put up for adoption as a baby and he never got clarity as to why, and I think that
played into it as well….eThe first couple of years after FNM he described (and others
have told me) as dark days.
He was depressed and broke and directionless and he turned to drugs to cope.
It was a story that repeated itself.
After a brief stint with bad brains in the early 90’s mosley found back at square one
himself as the band reformed with their longtime vocalist HR.
He would then form the band cement who he had some success but ahead of releasing heir
second album the group was involved in a bad tour bus accident and mosley suffered severe
injuries to his back prematurely ending the group.
He would get hooked on pain medication and Mosley found himself back at square one.
By the late 90’s and 2000’s mosley relocated to cleaveland ohio mostly working as a chef
and taking care of his two children with his partner..
His biographer Esper perfectly summarized Mosley’s struggle in life during this time
saying “To Chuck’s credit, he tried, again and again, to rebuild and restart, but found
it harder and harder with less buzz in return.
Even as a Chuck fan, I was unaware of what he was doing as this happened pre-internet,
pre-music websites, pre-24-hour news cycle.
His nerves and anxiety only grew as his neuroses seemed to confirm their truth.
In the late 90’s and 2000’s Mosley would still be involved in music working on his
first solo album titled will rap over hard rock for food which finally came out in 2009.
Throughout the 2010’s Mosley would play again with faith no more several times and
would even join mike patton on stage.
With things better again with faith no more, we care a lot would be re-issued in 2016.
But by 2014 Mosley and his family appeared to hit tough times as he would tell fans his
they were on the verge of being evicted.
but several years later things appeared to turn around for the better as.
2016 was a busy year for Mosley as he was hitting the road again but that anxiety and
doubt as well as that old back injury reared it’s ugly head as he would admit to bloopmagazine
[I said] don’t cancel the tour, I’ll do it.
The next thing we know we are on three planes to get to Scotland, and I was a mess, I could
barely stand-up and I was in pain.
I hate flying so I literally drank one hundred dollars worth [of alcohol] over on the plane,
just getting here.
I am terrified of flying, I have panic attacks and all that.”
“The first week was really rough" he'd remember.
IThe same year Mosley was working on several musical projects including one with his band
VUA, a second album with his old band Cement in addition to recording an acoustic EP and
was part of a group called Primitive Race which featured members of Type O Negative
and Prong.
but sadly On November 9, 2017, Mosley, who was 57, was found dead by his partner Pip
Logan and their friend in the living room of their house in cleavland.
He would die due to a drug overdose.
His family released a statement that read: Following his death the family would release
a statement that read “After a long period of sobriety, Charles Henry Mosley III lost
his life, on November 9th, 2017, due to the disease of addiction,” We’re sharing the
manner in which he passed, in the hopes that it might serve as a warning or wake up call
or beacon to anyone else struggling to fight for sobriety.
He is survived by long-term partner Pip Logan, two daughters, and his grandson Wolfgang Logan
Mosley.
The family will be accepting donations for funeral expenses.”
The members of faith no more would also release a statement that read Faith No More added
in a statement, “It’s with a heavy, heavy heart we acknowledge the passing of our friend
and bandmate, Chuck Mosley.
He was a reckless and caterwauling force of energy who delivered with conviction and helped
set us on a track of uniqueness and originality that would not have developed the way it had
had he not been a part.
How fortunate we are to have been able to perform with him last year in a reunion style
when we re-released our very first record.
His enthusiasm, his sense of humor, his style and his bravado will be missed by so many.
We were a family, an odd and dysfunctional family, and we’ll be forever grateful for
the time we shared with Chuck.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching.
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stories.
Take care.
Billed as chuck mosley and friends In 2016 it was announced that chuck mosley would be
reuniting with faith no more for two shows to celebrate the reissue of we care a lot.
he had a lot of plans going forward, a full tour in 2018, a new solo album, reuniting
VUA, and more,
Following his death one of his friends would start a gofundme page for chuck mosley o pay
for his funeral expenses.He would be survived by his wife and two daughters.