Atcha Acoustic is the project of guitarist/singer Chris Jagger (brother of Rolling Stone Mick), multi-instrumentalist Charlie Hart, guitarist Ed Deane, bassist Paul Emile, and percussionist Malcolm Mortimore. The group sprang from Chris Jagger's solo albums, 1994's Atcha and 1995's Rock the Zydeco; basically, the same members played on all three albums but changed the name to Atcha Acoustic for their 1997 release, From Lhasa to Lewisham.

Before forming Atcha Acoustic, Jagger pursued many interests, including theater; originally a theater student before deciding to follow his big brother into music, he worked as a lighting tech at London's Rainbow Theatre in the '70s and was also part of the Living Theatre and Citizen's Theatre companies.

Fashion design also intrigued Jagger. During the late '60s and early '70s, Jagger created showy ensembles for Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix; a jacket adorned with huge eyes that Jagger designed for the guitarist ended up on one of Hendrix's album covers.

Jagger spent some time as a journalist in the '80s, writing about music and other issues for publications like Rolling Stone and The Guardian.

Despite his other vocations, Jagger remained involved in the music scene whether or not he was actively recording. He began his recording career with a 1973 self-titled collection that mixed country, blues, and rock -- musical influences that shaped all of his musical projects -- and included contributions from brother Mick. After recording 1974's Adventures of Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist, Jagger fell out with his collaborators; though he contributed to the Rolling Stones' albums Dirty Work and Steel Wheels and worked with French songwriter Franck Langolf during the '80s, he did not record his own works again until 1993 when he worked with the lineup that eventually became Atcha Acoustic.

The other members of Jagger's group all brought deep experience in the rock and jazz scenes to the band, having connections as diverse as Charlie Byrd, Nick Lowe, B.B. King, and Ian Dury between them. Together, the group recorded 1994's Atcha, the critically acclaimed Rock the Zydeco from 1995, and From Lhasa to Lewisham, the group's first release as Atcha Acoustic, in 1997. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi