He first rose to fame in 1987 as the lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the pop band Johnny Hates Jazz.

The record featured Julie Roberts of Working Week, and two members of the reggae band Aswad: drummer Angus "Drummie Zeb" Gaye, and bassist George "Ras Levi" Oban.

His fellow band members were Glenn Matlock of the Sex Pistols and Rich Kids, guitarist James Stevenson[9] of Chelsea and Generation X and Calvin Hayes (later part of Johnny Hates Jazz).

[11] Datchler became a member of Johnny Hates Jazz alongside production team Calvin Hayes and Mike Nocito in 1986.

However, as soon as Datchler began to write the songs for the band, a showcase was held at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club where the group performed in front of several record labels.

The album featured other musicians, including bass player Nathan East, drummer John "JR" Robinson and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa.

In 1991, Datchler went back into the studio to record some tracks with Rupert Hine, producer of Tina Turner, the Fixx and Howard Jones.

[13] By the mid-1990s, Datchler had moved back to Britain where he based himself at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios outside the city of Bath.

There, he taught himself to play the bouzouki, drums and percussion, and refined his abilities as a pianist, keyboard player, bassist and guitarist.

Datchler rejoined Johnny Hates Jazz in late 2009, and in 2010 they played live shows in Europe and Southeast Asia.

In October 2010, Datchler received a BMI Film & TV Award in recognition of "Shattered Dreams"[15] achieving over three million broadcast performances in the US alone.

He subsequently started working with Mike Nocito on the Johnny Hates Jazz album, Magnetized, which was published in 2013, followed by a few live concerts in 2014.

[16][17] In 2020, Datchler and Nocito released a new single called "Spirit of Love" and announced that a new album known as Wide Awake would be coming out in August of that year.

In 2022, the retrospective Journey Songs 1 boxset was released, containing remastered versions of the albums Raindance and Fishing for Souls as well as rare tracks and demos.

Datchler released the charity single "Shattered Dreams of Ukraine" on digital platforms in November 2022 in support of Poland Welcomes.