Justin Hawkins
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| Justin Hawkins | |
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 Hawkins in Ankkarock 2004 |
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| Born | March 17, 1975 (age 32) |
| Alias(es) | Justin David Hawkins (birth name) |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Affiliation(s) | The Darkness (2000 - 2006) |
| Label(s) | Atlantic Records Must Destroy |
| Years active | 2000 - present |
| Official site | The Official The Darkness Website |
Justin David Hawkins (born on March 17, 1975) is an English musician and songwriter, known for being the former lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness.
Hawkins fully developed his love of rock music while playing with the now defunct heavy metal band The Commander. They are affectionately credited on The Darkness' debut album Permission To Land — (your wish is my Commander).
He is known for wearing catsuits, and his flamboyance and exaggeration. His playfulness has seen him fired by his brother Dan Hawkins from several different bands.[citation needed] He considered himself a lead guitarist until Dan saw him performing an interpretative mime to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in The Swan public house, in Beccles, on 31 December[citation needed], 1999 whereupon they realised his potential as a frontman.
In 2005 Justin set up a solo project, called British Whale. His debut single, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us, a cover of the 1974 hit by Sparks, was released on August 15th 2005 reached Number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2006 Hawkins released a second single, available only on download, an unofficial World Cup anthem called England.
In October 2006, Hawkins left The Darkness[1] and, as of December 2006, the band has not issued a statement regarding their future. It was reported by Contactmusic.com that bassist Richie Edwards (who replaced former band member Frankie Poullain) will take over the vocal position[2].
On 28th February 2007 it was reported that he is one of six acts competing to represent the UK in this year's Eurovision competition in Helsinki in a duet with singer Beverlei Brown. [3] He entered Making Your Mind Up with his friend Beverlei Brown singing a song entitled "They Don’t Make 'Em Like They Used To" [4], Justin stormed off the stage when it was announced that he had lost out to Scooch for a place in the final sing-off. He would later claim on his mypsace page that UK viewers to be either be "racist or stupid" for not voting Big Brovaz into the Top 2. [5]
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[edit] Background
Hawkins was born in 1975 in Chertsey, Surrey, England. Growing up in Lowestoft, he studied at Kirkley High School (notably the venue for the second series of Channel 4's Rock School programme; although any reference to The Darkness was consipicuously erased in that series in spite of their having donated thousands of pounds' worth of equipment to the school), he left part-way through his 'A' Levels to study Music Technology at Huddersfield Technical College while living in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax, West Yorkshire. His brother Dan Hawkins is the rhythm guitarist in The Darkness.
[edit] Personal life
In August 2006 it was reported (and later confirmed by The Darkness' management) that Justin Hawkins had been admitted to The Priory, a rehabilitation clinic. [6] On October 11, 2006 Hawkins revealed spending £150,000 in three years on cocaine after cracking the charts in 2003 with their single I Believe In A Thing Called Love. [7] When he realised he was no longer in control of himself due to drugs and alcohol, he joined a one month addiction-treatment in The Priory.
[edit] Trivia
- In 2006 was a guest host for one of the episodes in the third series of The Friday Night Project for Channel 4.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Justin Hawkins quits The Darkness", NME.com, New Musical Express, 2006-10-11. Retrieved on 2006-10-11. (in English)
- ^ Bassist Takes Over As Darkness Frontman
- ^ Justin Hawkins enters race to become UK Eurovision entry
- ^ Hawkins & Brown - BBC Radio 2, Make Your Mind Up
- ^ Barry Viniker (2007-03-20). Is Justin Hawkins the new Silvia Knight?. esctoday.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
- ^ "Darkness singer in rehab clinic", BBC, BBC, 2006-08-18. Retrieved on 2006-12-19. (in English)
- ^ "Drugs force Darkness singer out", BBC, BBC, 2006-08-18. Retrieved on 2006-12-19. (in English)
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1975 births | Living people | English male singers | English rock singers | English songwriters | People from Suffolk | English rock guitarists | Falsettos | People treated for drug addiction
